Black Night
by asixua
Summary: Kirya Black is 18 years old and has been taking care of herself for years. But the times are tough and there is no work to get. When she finds herself eye to eye with the most terrifying creature she's ever seen, she decides to risk everything... This story is taking place some years after the tv-show, and features Damon Salvatore and my OC.
1. Chapter 1

Kirya wanted to hit him. Hard. Right in the face.

But she didn't, of course she didn't. Instead she just sighed, letting the anger leave her slowly, as the air slipped out between her slightly parted lips. The man in front of her glared at her. "Next!"

"Fuck this," Kirya cursed under her breath, and turned around on the heel. They wouldn't help her here, and now she was totally and completely screwed over.

She slowly started walking out the social office, but as she saw herself in a mirror right inside the door, she lingered.  
Kirya Black was 18 years old and not much to look at in her trashy old pilot jacket and blue jeans. She had a homemade knitted scarf thrown loosely around her neck. Her jet black hair was cropped short, just below her ears, and it tended to go in all directions at once. The light olive tone of her skin made her dark blue eyes stand out. She had glasses, with just bit shade. Not enough, though, to make them look less geeky.

She sighed again. She didn't really know what to do, or where to go.

_Come back next week, with clean clothes and an improved attitude, then I'll see if I have the time to file your_ _resumee_.

That was what he had told her. She'd told him she had nowhere to stay, sleep or to wash her clothes, for that matter. He'd given her an extra look, and asked her to follow him out back.  
She would never forget his dirty hands crawling up under her blouse. _I can give you a place to stay, honey._

To her luck, a clerk had come in to ask about some files she needed. Kirya was sure she had seen his hands all over her, and she had done nothing. They were all just the same here...

She was ripped away from her thoughts by a scream, and a crash. She whirled around just in time to see a young man jumping nimbly on top of a guy lying on the floor. He bent over and it looked like... he was biting him?

Kirya slowly started backing towards the exit. This was too fucking weird, and she wasn't gonna stick around to get mixed up in anything. A guard came rushing past her, and ran over to the two people on the floor. He grapped the upper guy by his shoulder, trying to pull him off his prey. For prey was what it was. The second the guard touched his shoulder, he whirled around, faster than lightning. His face was smeared in blood, running down his jaw and dripping to the floor. Everyone in the room froze.  
The vampire just smiled mockingly as the guard in front of him reached for his gun. The next second he lay dead on the floor, his neck broken. The gun was now in the vampires hand.

Kirya was the first to move, she dashed for the door, and a second after, everyone was screaming and running for an exit. She ran for all she was worth, hoping to disappear in the panic.

Strong hands gripped her from behind. She didn't know it, but the fact that she had been the first to move in a room full of prey, had made the vampires instincts take over.

She was thrown up against the wall, shattering the mirror, where she had looked at her reflection just a few minutes ago. She opened her eyes and stared right into his, they were crystal blue.  
"Well, well, well, what do we have here?"


	2. Chapter 2

_**Hi guys, here's the next update. I hope you like it, and please review :-)**_

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She didn't even try to brake away from him. His grip was like steel and she could feel how bruises were starting to form on her arm. There was no point.

"You smell fantastic," his voice was like velvet and with his one free hand he slowly moved her hair away from her face. He looked at her for a long moment, then shrugged.  
"Hmm, I took you for a fighter, but well, you can't be right every time." He leaned in so close that she could feel his cold breath against her skin.  
"Any last words?" he whispered ironic.

"I need a job!" she didn't even understand her own words before they had left her mouth.  
He pulled back, only a few inches, but enough to look at her face.

"So?"

Quickly she collected herself."I could work for you. You know, washing clothes, cleaning, cooking... No scratch that last part, there's obviously no need for that." The words came stumbling out of her, not really making sense in her own ears.  
"Well, I can do whatever you needed to get done. I'm not picky."

"And what would the price of all this delightful service be?" His voice sent shivers down her spine. He was toying with her and she knew it. Breathing in deeply she answered:  
"Just room and board."

He watched her for a long moment, the suddenly he took a step back releasing her arm.  
"Well then. Right now I can't make up my mind. Since you," he let his fingers trail down her chin, "are off the menu for a moment, I need you to point me in the right direction. Who should I eat next?"

Kiryas mind was finally starting to get back to it's normal cool state. She quickly looked around the room. Her conversation with the vampire had apparently not taken as long as she'd thought. People were still rushing around to get out. And there, in the middle of the mess, she saw him... He was trying to crawl over his desk to get to the door. That old disgusting pig.

"That guy," she points across the room. "In the blue shirt, with ugly glasses."

The vampire cast a short glance in the direction she pointed.  
Then he jumped. He sailed through the air, way too far to be human, and landed right in front of the guy. He tried to flee back across the desk, but the vampire was faster, gripping him by the neck, lifting him into the air. Then, with no pause, he jammed his free hand straight into his chest. There was a splash of blood as he retreated his hand and let go of the dead body, which slumped limbly to the floor. He turned around and caught Kiryas gaze, in his right hand he held a lump of meat; a heart. He took a lick, and mouthed "delicious", as he turned around to find his next victim.

Kirya didn't know how much time had passed. At some point her knees had given in, and now she sat with her back up against the wall. The room was silent. She just sat and waited for him to remember her. Somehow she knew that if she had tried to run, he would have been there faster than lightning, so she'd just stayed and watched. She figured that she was probably dead anyway, so what did it really matter? Even if she had gotten away, she had nowhere to go and nothing to eat.

She didn't hear him, but suddenly he was there standing right before her. She got to her feet. If this was it, she surely wasn't gonna sit and wait for it.  
"You wanted work you said," he looked at her intently.  
"Yes."  
"Do you know how to handle a gun?"  
"Yes."  
"Can you obey orders immediately?"  
"Yes."  
"Well then," he offered her the gun he'd taken from the guard earlier. "Shoot yourself."

Her mind was racing. This was the weirdest job interview she'd ever been in. Did he want her to kill herself? What kind of shit was this?

And then she understood.

"Room and board?" she asked.

"Why not."

She took the gun from his hand, flicked off the safety and in a single movement pressed it to her left palm.

_This is gonna hurt._

Then she pulled the trigger.


	3. Chapter 3

The gun fell from her hand, and clattered to the floor. Her eyesight seemed to dwindle, as she stumbled and nearly fell.  
She was hyperventilating and she had to force herself to take deep slow breaths of air. Clutching her now wounded hand, she slowly looked down at it.

"Fuck."

It was a mess of blood, and torn flesh. She thought she saw some white stuff, that could be bones. She swore under her breath.

In front of her the vampire turned away from her and started walking across the room, stepping over the massacred bodies lying on the floor.

"You're hired, now keep up."

Kirya stood for a second, regaining her composure, then followed him.  
She had adjusted to the pain, it was still there, but it didn't overwhelm her anymore; she was in control. While she walked she tore off her scarf and tied it tightly around her hand, hoping it would be enough to stop the blood flow.

When she crossed the room she came to sudden halt next to the guy she'd told the vampire to kill. Even in death she hated him! She could almost feel his hands on her body, even now. She kicked the body, hard.  
"Serves you right, dickhead," she hissed.

She had to run, to catch up with him. He was walking casually down the hallway, like he had no worry in the world.  
She kept close behind him, neither wanting to be left behind nor attract too much of his attention.

As they passed the elevators a bell pinged, and the doors opened.

Two police officers stood there, guns raised. Kirya jumped back, but the vampire just stood there calmly.

"There was an animal attack down the hall, you need to go check it out. And when you do you will forget that I was even here." He paused for second, then added: "and you'll need to throw away the survaillance tapes, they're not of any use to you."

His voice was cool, but there was something different to his tone, that she could put a finger on.  
The two police men ran out the elevator past them, not sparing them another glance.  
Kirya was confused, how the hell..? but he had already entered the elevator and was now pressing the button for the basement.

"Coming?" She raced in, just as the doors started to slide shut.

The basement contained a large underground parking garage. It held parking areas for all the buildings employees and a mall. Right now it was deserted.

Kirya remembered how she'd once snuck in here to find a place to sleep, and how the guard had found her and thrown her out on her ass. She'd had trouble walking for a week.

A silver sportscar was parked right next to the elevator, completely illegal. A ticket was placed under the wipers.  
As he moved to the drivers seat, the vampire swiftly grapped it, crumbled it into a ball and threw it over the shoulder.

"Get in."

As soon as she'd closed the door behind her, he floored it. The car shot forward, the acceleration pressing Kirya back into her seat. They raced past rows, and rows of cars, their colors blurring together, and then shut out into the sunlight.

As he drove down the street, the vampire reached over, opening the glove compartment and retrieved a pair of shades. He put them on, hiding his blue eyes. Somehow it made her a bit more at ease, having those eyes covered. They seemed to stare right through her, like x-ray or something, even when he was not looking at her.

Working up her courage she said:  
"So, what should I call you? Boss?"

"Huh?" he looked at her, and even with the glasses she felt a ball of dread forming in her guts. "I don't give a shit, just shut up and be invisible."

She nodded solemnly, and looked away.  
_The guy is a fucking vampire! A vampire! Just shut the fuck up, and pray that he's not hungry for dessert._


	4. Chapter 4

_**I'd like to mention that english is not my native language, and therefore I appologize for both spelling and grammar that might be off sometimes. Please feel free to review. **_

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After 20 minutes or so, the car pulled over and Kirya snapped back to reality. Her hand hurt like hell and the scarf she'd bandaged it with, was soaked in blood.

She got out of the car, wondering if he'd just brought her as a late night snack, of if he was gonna be true to his word, and actually let her work for him. Weirdly enough, the thought didn't really affect her. It was, what it was.

She looked around taking in the street. There wasn't much traffic, only a few people out walking, and the occasional car cruising by. In front of her was a large old building, about 7 storeys high. It was painted in a strikingly yellow color, that made her wanna squeeze her eyes shut.

The vampire went past her and unlocked the door.  
She followed in his trail, up the stairs. When he finally stopped at the top floor, cold sweat was forming on her forehead. There was only a single door.

_Well, it figures he would have a penthouse apartment_, she thought to herself.

As she entered the apartment after him, a sudden wave of dizziness overwhelmed her. She stumbled and had to grab hold of the nearest wall to steady herself. Unfortunately she instinctly used her wounded left hand.  
The world started spinning, then her head hit the floor and everything went black.

She woke up, totally disoriented. It took her several moments before she realized she was lying on the floor in a heap. Slowly she got up into a sitting position, carefull not to use her wounded hand as support.  
The vampire was nowhere to be seen. Awkwardly she got to feet, and when the dizziness didn't return, she looked around. She was standing in a long, but not very wide hallway. To her right it ended in a wide opening, into what appeared to be a livingroom. Since it was the only open door in the hall, she went that way.

He was sitting in a couch next to a small table. As she stepped in, he emptied a glass of golden liquid. Scotch, she guessed.

Not even looking at her, he said:  
"Bring the bottle over," gesturing at a large cabinet right next to the door. She opened the top drawer, and easily found the bottle. It looked old and expensive.  
She went over to him.

"Pour."

"Yes sir." she said, as she clumsily opened the bottle with one hand.

"Name's Damon, and I'm no fucking sir, girl."

"I'm sorry s...Damon."

She poured the scotch in the glass, hoping she got the amount right. She never really understood why you didn't just fill the glass, or use a smaller one. She placed the bottle on the small table and straightened.

"Can I ask a question?"

"If you must."

"I need to bandage this properly..." She let the sentence hang in the air, not sure how to end it. He was a vampire! He probably didn't need a first aid kit in the house.

"So?" He sounded bored.

"I was just wondering if you had anything i could use?"

"You don't need that." He poured another glass and then he raised his wrist to his mouth and bit! She gasped shocked as thick dark blood started running from the wound. He caught the drops in the glass. As the contents mixed, the liquor turned to a disturbingly red-gold color. He offered her the glass.

She accepted it, but hesitated to drink, trying to make up her mind.

_What the fuck? I just shot myself today, got a job working for a vampire, and saw at least twenty people getting killed. Drinking blood from a vampire should be easy._

She brought the glass to her lips, downing most of it in one gulp. The scotch warmed her mouth and throat all the way down. And weirdly enough the sweet metallic taste of blood actually blended well with the liquor.  
She had downed it all, before she'd even noticed.

She placed the glass on the table. She wasn't used to drinking alcohol, and she felt a bit bouncy already. The pain seemed to dim as well.

"Thank you."

"Yeah whatever, now get out of my sight."

She did as he ordered, leaving the room the same way she'd entered. Standing in the hallway again, she wondered what he wanted her to do? She'd kinda realized he wasn't the most talkative guy. At least now she knew his name...

Damon.

It wasn't the kind of name she'd expected a vampire to have, but in someway it fitted him perfectly; his deadly eyes, dark hair, and slim figure. Even the way he moved like he was above anyone else, seemed to fit into that one word: Damon.

She shook her head. She needed to find the bathroom and clean the wound. If it got infected she was in deep shit. Somehow she didn't really believe that he would pay a hospital bill.

She started to open the nearest door, when she stopped dead. She'd just used her left hand! Slowly she unwound the bloody scarf revealing her just as bloody hand. But beneath the blood there was no wound. Only a mark, the size of a coin, where the bullet had entered.

She couldn't believe her own eyes. She squeezed them shut, counted to ten, then opened them again looking at her hand. _Holy fuck!_

She moved her fingers. Nothing, no pain, not even the tiniest ache.

She shook her head; this was definitely the weirdest day in her life. She looked into the room behind the door. It was a large room with a king sized bed and nothing else in it. No pictures on the wall, nothing.  
She closed it again, trying the next door.

In the end door number three was the right one.

A bathroom revealed itself, and she quickly slid in and closed the door behind her.  
She immediately turned on the hot water and started washing the blood from her hands. When her skin was glowing pink and clean, she washed her scarf as well.

Suddenly exhausted, and a bit high headed from the drink she'd had, she sat down on the floor, leaning against the door.

Few seconds later she was asleep...


	5. Chapter 5

When she woke up the sun was shining through the window above her. For a moment she didn't remember where she was. She looked around and her gaze fell on the scarf, now dry and clean.

It triggered her memory.

_Holy shit!_

She got to her feet, and she was surprised at how good she felt in her whole body, especially considering the fact that she had slept on a cold bathroom floor. That vampire blood really was something.

She could need a little refreshing. Her backpack was nowhere to be seen, so she opened the door out to the hallway. As she picked up her bag, she wondered if vampires slept. He apparently had no problem being out in the daylight. The sun had been high in sky, the day before when he'd destroyed the social office.

Just to be sure she tiptoed back into the bathroom. She wasn't gonna risk waking a morning grumpy vampire.  
She took out her toothbrush out and brushed her teeth, while taking a better look around in the room.

It was enormous. In one corner there was a gigantic tub, and in the other a shower, shielded from the room by ornamented glass sides. One of the walls featured a mirror from floor to roof.  
She regarded herself in the mirror. "I look like something the cat dragged in," she said out loud. She put down the toothbrush. Longingly she looked at the shower, but decided against it. Instead she found her other set of clothes and quickly changed. She filled the sink and let the dirty clothes soak. Then she brushed her hair. It went all flat immediately, and anoyed she put away the brush, using her fingers to give it a bit more volume. When she was satisfied, she returned her attention to the now completely drenched clothes.

She had only just hung them to dry, when she heard someone knock on the front door. Quickly, she dried her hands. She didn't know if she was supposed to answer it, but on the other hand, that was the kind of thing a butler handled, and she guessed that for now, that was the closest thing she had as a job description.

Hurrying to the door, she took a deep breath before she opened.

Outside stood a tall man at least a head taller than Kirya. He had an oriental look to him. His hair was jet black, falling unruly to his shoulders. He wore a dark grey designer jacket, that should have come with a 10.000 dollar suit, but seemed to fit even better with his blue jeans and black turtleneck.

"Can I help you," she asked.

He looked surprised for a moment, but then it looked like he came to some kind of realization, and he smiled.  
Kirya felt like she was the subject of some inside joke, and she didn't like it.

"I need to see Damon." He took a step forward, but she didn't move.

"If you would be so kind as to wait out here, I'll see if he has the time."

She didn't know why she was acting up to this guy. It probably wasn't a very good idea.

"Excuse me?" he hissed, and Kirya saw his canines, at bit too long and pointed to be human, but she held her ground, blocking the doorway.

"What name should I announce?"

"What the fuck! I'm gonna tell you one thing, blood bag. I don't know why Damon hasn't already sucked you dry, but I'll tell you, if you do not get the fuck out of my way, I'm gonna rip your fucking head off!"

It was like his whole facial expression changed. Dark lines formed around his eyes, and suddenly the atmosphere was loaded with tension.

"Screw you." The words just came out her mouth, even though a voice inside her head was screaming at her, asking what in God's name her problem was. Did she really want to get killed?

Her answer clearly took him by surprise, and gave her time to draw the hidden knife she always carried in her boot.

The vampire tensed, getting ready to jump her. She was clearly miles out of her league.

Then a voice sounded from behind her.

"Calm down, Yuki."

Kirya whirled around.

He stood right behind her, leaning casually against the wall. She hadn't heard him arrive, she had been too focused on the guy outside. Remembering him again, she turned back around facing him again. He had eased back looking the way she had first seen him when she opened the door.

"I really thought you were better at keeping your temper." A diabolical smile was playing in the corner of Damon's mouth.

"Letting a girl bring you out of control like that." He returned his attention to Kirya.

"That by the way," he snapped the knife out of her hand, "does not work against us." While he talked, he slowly and effortless bent the blade. Kirya shrugged, taking a step back, as Damon let the ruined blade drop.

"I guess you know the guy."

The guy in question burst out in laughter, startling Kirya completely.

"You really need to tell me where you've found this one." He walked past her, giving her a thorough look on the way.  
Damon caught her eyes, about to say something.

She sighed. "Yeah, I know. Invisible is my middle name."

The newcomer, Yuki, chuckled as he followed Damon into one of the rooms she'd peeked inside the other night. It was some kind of office-slash-livingroom thing. They closed the door behind them.

She sighed, and her stomach growled. Realizing that she hadn't eaten anything in the last 24 hours or so, she entered the living room where she'd served Damon scotch the day before. She had caught a glimpse of a kitchen through an open door.

It was right there, and she started to search for something to eat.


	6. Chapter 6

**I'd like to dedicate this chapter to Dhalia89, thank you for your kind review and feedback :-) **

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As it turned out she found a can of coke and a package of stale cereals. It wasn't much, but her time living on the streets had made her less than picky. She'd eaten things that were way worse.

Having finally filled her stomach, she started cleaning the kitchen. She washed of every nook and crook she could find. Iced off the fridge, and washed the floor.

Just as she was about to empty the trash can, she felt like someone was watching her. She turned around, seeing Yuki stand in the doorway.  
He whistled.

"Wow. You really know how to make yourself useful."  
She didn't know what to say, so she just kept quiet, waiting for him to say whatever he had come to say.

"Not in the chatty corner, huh? I just came to apologize for my extremely rude behavior earlier, I did not know that Damon had been out hiring a housekeeper."

He took a step forward extending his hand.

"Name's Yuki Nakamura."

She hesitated for a long moment then took his hand.

"Apology accepted, Nakamura-san. I'm Kirya Black."

He frowned.

"A pleasure to meet you Miss Kirya. I must admit, you keep surprising me; I don't often meet young women knowing how to use japanese titles."

It was a statement, but somehow Kirya felt like there was a big fat question mark ending the sentence. It was her own fault of course, she should have held her tongue.

_Old habits die hard, I guess._

Out loud she said: "Well, you pick up a lot of useful stuff on the street."

His eyes narrowed, but then he eased, apparently believing her.

"Yeah, I guess so. By the way, Damon wants to talk to you."

_Wauw, that's a first_, she thought.

She straightened a bit.

"Thank you, I'd better get going then."

She quickly walked out the room, passing him very closely in the doorway. She didn't look at him, even though she felt his eyes follow her all the way.

She stopped outside the door, they'd disappeared through earlier. She quickly straightened her clothes, before lifting her hand to knock. But she didn't even get to touch the door.

"Get in here." His voice was commanding, and suddenly Kirya felt really nervous.

She cautiously pushed the door open and slid in. Before she faced him, she closed the door behind her.

"You wanted to talk to me?"

He just looked at her for a while, then he said:

"I don't know if you're very stupid or very smart." He was silent for a moment.

"Well, which one is it, girl?"

She stared at her feet, not able to meet those crystal sharp eyes.  
"I don't know. Maybe a bit of both?"

"Look at me when I'm talking to you." She reluctantly raised her eyes, but chose to stare at his chin, instead of directly into his eyes.

It seemed like he accepted that for an answer

"The rules here are simple, you do what ever you're ordered to, immediately. For now it would include keeping the place clean. The rest of the time you stay invisible and silent. And you don't leave the apartment."

She nodded solemnly.

"Yes, sir." She immediately saw her error, and quickly corrected herself.  
"I mean; Yes Damon."

"Good now come over here. I need a drink."

She didn't understand him immediately. Should she have brought the scotch? But then she understood. He wanted a drink from her. She felt her heart skip a beat. Was he gonna kill her?

_No way, he just told me how to behave. He wouldn't have wasted time on that, if he was gonna suck me dry._

Still, she had dreadful pictures in her head of how he'd ripped open the people yesterday.

In the end her logic won, but still seeing terrible flashes before her eyes, she quietly walked over, stopping in front of him.

He rose. Suddenly he was so close.  
He was behind her so fast, that she couldn't help letting out a small scream.

He laughed, and whispered in her ear. She could almost fell his lips move against her skin.

"Are you scared now, little girl?"

She clenched her teeth. No way he was gonna win this. She didn't answer him, just tipped her head to the side letting him get clear access to the vein.

Kirya couldn't see his face, but a short glint of impression appeared in his eyes. It was gone, almost before it had been there.  
And then he bit.

It hurt like hell at first. Burning white pain searing through her, but Kirya just kept her jaw clenched, intent on staying silent no matter what.  
It felt like an eternity, and when he finally stopped she had no idea how much time had passed.

He didn't pull away at first, just stood there breathing so close to her ear. She could hear him lick his lips. Finally just when Kirya was about to loose her composure, he stepped back.

"Not bad. I've tasted better though."

_Is he seriously criticizing the way my blood tastes?_

"You can leave now," he said sounding bored.

_He's probably used to have to fight a bit more, and like hell if I'm gonna give him that._

She could feel the blood trickle down her neck, and it stung when she straightened. She turned around and walked over to the door. She had her hand on the handle when he spoke again.

"By the way, don't rely on me to keep you out of trouble with my guests. I don't care how you handle them, but you better figure out how, or you'll be dead next time."

"I wont then." She opened the door but turned around a last time.

"If you gonna keep your promise of room and board, and I can't go outside, you need to pick up some groceries. Humans need to eat. If you need anything, just call." With those words she left the room.

Yuki had lingered in the hallway. He smiled at her as she passed. She nodded but said nothing. He entered the room she'd just left.

"You got yourself a handful in that one," she heard him say. Damon snorted. "I assume she's under compulsion?"

"No."

"Well, then she surely adapts quickly..."

Their voices were cut off, as he closed the door behind him.

Kirya escaped to the bathroom locking the door behind her. She looked in the mirror, and the face looking back was so deadly white, that she could hardly recognize it.

Two small puncture wounds was visible at the base of her neck. Suddenly a terrible thought emerged in her head.  
_Fuck! what if I turn into a friggin' vampire?_

She had to sit down, as her legs started to shake and threatened to give away under her.


	7. Chapter 7

When she finally got herself under control, she tried to rise, only to fall back down, her vision filled with black dots.

_Blood loss_.

She laid still on her back for a second, until her vision was clear again. Then she slowly gave it another try.

This time she was able to keep standing, but she felt cold and tired.

She went over to the sink and splashed a bit water on her face. Then she cleaned up the trickles of blood running from the bitemark on her neck. She sighed. She couldn't stay in here forever. And like hell if he thought she was hiding out.  
Unlocking the door, she went back to the kitchen. She took out the garbage bag and placed it by the door, since she apparently wasn't allowed to leave the house. Then she went back again to write a list of groceries. It took her a thorough search of both kitchen and living room before she found pen and paper.

She started writing down. When she was finished she had a quite long list, she was just about to place it on the table in the living room, when she spontaneously wrote down a last entry.  
Then she left it there and started cleaning the room.

Still dizzy and a bit nauseated, she had to take a rest every ten minutes or so, her head quickly starting to spin. But she slowly made progress.  
She was just about to sit down a last time, when Yuki and Damon entered the room.

"Do you want a drink?" she asked looking at the two vampires.

"I would love to," Yuki quickly answered showing a bit of fang.  
_Oh fuck._

"I was talking about scotch, if you want anything else, you'll have to discuss it with Damon." She kept her face straight, letting no feelings show. But on the inside she was in turmoil. What if Damon let him? It was one thing to let Damon drink of her, but she wouldn't, no she _couldn't_ let that guy, Yuki, bite her.

_Oh, please, please say no!_

"No." She quickly glanced at him. For a split second their eyes met. She thought she saw a tiny nod, but it could just as well have been her mind playing tricks on her. She was still feeling a bit dizzy.

"Some scotch would be fine."

She hurried off to the kitchen getting two glasses. When she returned they were sitting in the couch by the table. Yuki had picked up her grocery list. He looked at it sporadically while talking softly with Damon, then suddenly he burst out laughing. Damon leaned over to see.  
He raised his eyebrows when he read her last entry.

"Seriously girl? Garlic?" Damon's voice had an edge to it, but his features were relaxed, and he didn't seem genuinely upset.  
"You know, garlic, silver, crosses and so one, is a joke and a myth."

Kirya shrugged.  
"For all I know that same fact applies for vampires as well," she mumbled under her breath. Hearing her Yuki burst out in laughter again.  
Trying to ignore the fact that she was made a joke of, she went over and placed the glasses on the table, and poured the scotch.

"Hey, why don't you have one as well?" Yuki said, gesturing at the bottle.

"I don't think I should drink at work," she answered politely, not mentioning the fact, that she had done just that the day before, including Damon's blood. Somehow she didn't think that was something Yuki needed to know.

"Go sleep somewhere, girl. I don't need you anymore tonight." She nodded thankfully. Her head was making her crazy, and she was in no mood to talk with the energetic Yuki, much less get drunk with him.

She left the bottle at the table and left the two vampires.

She really was tired, she looked out one of the few windows in apartment. The sun was just setting, it couldn't be much more than 7 o'clock, but she felt tired to the bone.

_I really don't hope he's gonna feed off me every day._

She hesitated for a few seconds in the hallway. Damon hadn't defined where exactly she should sleep, and she didn't really look forward to another night in the bathroom. She chose to take the couch in the office, even though she got the chills when she was reminded of earlier.  
For a second she considered finding another room, but she didn't want to risk taking Damon's bedroom if he even had one.

She laid down on the couch, almost sleeping before her head hit the cushions. The last thought she had, was:

_Why does he keep calling me girl? I do have a name..._

Then she slept.


	8. Chapter 8

**So this is my 8th chapter, and I would love to hear what you think! It's a day late, but couldn't quite get around to writing it yesterday. Review, please :-)**

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The next couple of weeks went by, and Kirya slowly got the hang of living and working with a vampire. She met several other vampires, that came by regularly.

There was Bjorn the giant viking-looking guy, who probably had been a real viking once. He had a rumbling laugh, and often used it. He and Yuki was the most friendly towards her. Well, as friendly as a guy who literally craves your blood can be.

A couple had been there on the third day. A beautiful brunette called Katherine and an equally good looking guy, whose name was Alex. He had ignored her completely, but Katherine had made it pretty clear to Damon, what she thought of his choice of servant. Kirya was relieved when they'd finally left.

Damon called on her for blood regularly, but always let her have a day or two in between. Recalling the amount of blood he'd drunk the day they met, she concluded he was feeding elsewhere as well.

As it turned out Yuki, hanging out in the apartment most of the time, was the one who took the shopping on his shoulders. He brought home everything from her grocery lists including an enormous amount of garlic; something he thought hilarious. For the first time in the last four years, Kirya didn't have to think about getting enough to eat.

Right now she was cooking, already getting the hang of it, even though she had not prepared food in a real kitchen, more than a couple of times before. She was making homemade pizzas.

She had just put them in the oven, when Damon, Yuki and Bjorn came home. They'd probably been out drinking on some bar. Kirya had learned pretty fast, that was their primary pass time, which she found a bit weird since alcohol didn't really seem to affect them.

This night however, all three were in high moods. Yuki and Damon were playing around faking a fight, which mostly happened in vampire speed, insulting each other rapidly. Bjorn just walked pretty much between them trying to keep them both in just a bit control, while humming an off tune, a bit too loud to be drowned in the bickering.

When Yuki saw her in the kitchen he broke off in the mid of whatever he was insulting Damon with; exclaiming loudly: "Hey Kir, what's for dinner?" As always he parted his lips slightly, to show her what he really meant.

At the same time Damon, going hyper speed, bowed down and kicked his legs away under him sending him to the floor sprawling. "You lose focus so easily, Yuki," he laughed. "And when are you gonna stop harass my employee?"

"Hey, I was asking about her cooking not blood, that's all yours."

"You bet it is," Damon said from behind Kirya. He had moved across the room so fast.

"Fuck," she breathed. "I'm really not used to that yet."

She let her head tip to the side, offering her neck.

"Hey I got it." Yuki got to his feet raising his hands in surrender, as Damon's mouth touched her skin. He was always biting the same place, leaving Kirya with only one set of bite marks. She was happy about that. Today he was so gentle that she hardly felt the penetration of her skin.

He didn't take much either. He was probably just showing off to Yuki. Before he draw back from her, he let his tongue flick over her skin, licking off the tiny flow of blood that had escaped. It send a weird kind of shiver through her body.  
Damon stretched and for a second he reminded her of a cat, lying on the porch in the sun.

"I was just going to eat now, but if you need anything, just say the word."

"Well, after this divine appetizer, a slice of pizza would just make my day." Damon said in a lofty voice. "Right, guys? Oh I forgot, I was the only one getting an appetizer, but then again, it is my house." He reached over picking of one of the mushrooms, Kirya had used as topping on her dinner.

She stared in wonder as he ate it. This was new. She'd always cooked and eaten when the vampires had been out, just assuming that their diet was based on pure blood and nothing else.

Yuki and Bjorn laughed at her shocked face. Damon had an amused smirk on his lips. Yuki went over sitting by the table.

"Dear Miss Kirya, love, we would be delighted to share your meal at this very fine table in this gentleman's fantastic house." Yuki copied Damon's sophisticated voice. "That is if our completely drunken state wont ruin your delicate appetite."

Bjorn had followed him, letting his big features slouch on a chair, that Kirya feared wouldn't hold him. She was a bit taken back by the sudden attention, she answered:

"Of course. I'll get some more plates."

She quickly set the table, and then hovered unsure of what to do next. Damon grabbed the plate with pizzas she'd just taken out of the oven.

"Watch out! They're hot." But he just laughed and placed them on the table. When she just stood gaping, he sighed and showed her his hands, a couple of small burns covered his palms, but as she watched they started slowly to transform into nothing, leaving his skin as pale and smooth as before.

"But," she stammered.

"Oh come on now, no harm's done. Let's eat."

Again her talent of adjusting quickly kicked in, she was able to shrug it off, and sit down by the table.

She was astounded to see that they actually had manners, apparently waiting for her to fill her plate first. She did so, feeling a bit uncomfortable.

"Go ahead."

Yuki was the first to grab a slice, not even putting it on his plate before taking a bite.

"Waouw, you really can cook!" he exclaimed. The others digged in as well.

Kirya was mostly silent throughout the whole meal, only thanking for the praise when it was offered. The guys talked and laughed a lot, discussing people she didn't know. Only once a name she knew emerged.

Bjorn was reaching for his third slice, telling about some girl he'd apparently had met the day before. Kirya chose to ignore the fact that it had probably been as a meal.

"You wont believe it, she looked just like Katherine."

Damon snorted. "Then she can't have been that much of a view."

"Oh come on, it's not me who's wasted decades of wooing the girl. She's hot! admit it."

"Shut up Bjorn, or should we talk about Carla? Huh?" Bjorn rose his hands in surrender. "I didn't think so," Damon continued smugly. But Kirya thought she caught a glimpse of bitterness in his eyes.

The meal ended shortly after. While Kirya started to clean up, the vampires drew into the living room, probably continuing their drinking. She didn't know it yet, but she would not have to eat alone for the next long period of time.

While she cleaned the dishes, she pondered over what Bjorn had said earlier. Damon wooing Katherine for decades, was hard to believe since they all seemed to be no more than in their early or mid twenties.  
But of course vampires were supposed to live forever, at least if you believed the myth.

_Wonder how old they are._

She finished the dishes and washed the table before retreating to the couch in the office.  
There was still one thing that kept popping into her mind: Damon and Katherine together.  
_Yirks, good thing that didn't happen_.

Katherine might be "hot" and all, but aside from that, she was absolutely not a match for Damon.  
Surprised by herself, Kirya picked up a notebook she'd found the other day.

Since when had she begun thinking Damon as the good guy? One thing was to agree to work for a psychotic vampire, to safe your own life. That was, well, taking what life threw at you, and turn it into an opportunity, Kirya decided. Shooting yourself maybe was a bit extreme, but a girl had to do what a girl had to do.

She started doodling on the blank papers of the book.

_When exactly did I stop fearing him?_


	9. Chapter 9

The window needed a hard push to open. Kirya stuck her head out. The sun was setting, the skies burning red, to purple to dark blue. She sighed, how long had it been since she'd been outside beneath the sky?

She leaned out farther. The roof wasn't very steep, and every meter or so there was a ridge. She reached out and touched one of them. It seemed pretty stern.

Suddenly needing to be outside Kirya jumped up in the windowsill and then carefully went out on the roof. It held her just fine, but she knew it would only take one misstep for her to fall down. She wouldn't survive a 7 storey fall, that was for sure.  
She balanced on the ridge, walking a couple of meters before she carefully sat down. She leaned back resting her back against the tiles, looking straight up into the darkening sky. She laid like that for a long time, just breathing in the air, relaxing.

In the end the cold became too much and she crawled back inside, but from then on she often escaped to the roof, when she needed to clear her head.

It seemed that something was happening in the vampire world. Damon often had new vampires visiting, talking muted for hours, pausing their conversation when Kirya was close. Yuki and Bjorn often stayed for days, also attending in the late night meetings. It seemed that the period of euphoria had passed. The only one managing to keep up his usually good moods, was Yuki.

Kirya kept cleaning, cooking, washing clothes and serving all the guests. They'd grown accostumed to her, and the confrontations were scarce.  
Sometimes she joined Yuki and Bjorn in cardgames. They still were the only ones who seemed to accept her.

She'd just lost by a mile to Bjorn in poker, and both he and Yuki was joking about her poor abilities in the game.  
"Hey, I've only just learned it, you guys have had quite a headstart, remember? Let's have a game of chess one day, and I'll nail both your asses," she laughed, knowing that she would probably lose in her favourite game as well.

"Headstart? nah, just 8 decades or so," Yuki said, trying to keep his face serious. "Don't tell me you're a sore loser, love."

"Me? A sore loser?" she sputtered. "You should have met my dad then, talk about a guy that couldn't deal with loosing."

They were interrupted when the front door was ripped open and slammed shut.

"There goes Katherine," mumbled Bjorn, hiding a grin. Kirya was surprised, she hadn't even known she'd been here. Well, at least she was gone now. In the last weeks, Kirya and Katherine had come up with a silent truce. They both stayed out of each others way.

A moment later Damon entered the living room, bringing that weird tension along with him, the way only vampires could do.

"Girl, get over here." His voice was angry, and he obviously was in no mood for inobedience.

Kirya quickly put down the deck she'd been shuffeling and rose. She hated it when he ordered her around like that, infront of Yuki an Bjorn. It nagged her to be put in her place so obviously.

Before she had even realized what he wanted, his canines sunk into her. It hurt more than usual.

_ He really must be upset about something_; this was the first time he'd ever fed on her with other people around. She clenched her teeth, no way he or any of the others were gonna see how much it hurt. She just stared on a blank spot on the wall, waiting for it to end.

But he kept going, she felt coldness spread through her body, and her legs went numb. She had to fight just to stay standing.

Was this it? Was he gonna finish her off once and for all?

_Maybe I should fight, he wouldn't expect that._

But somehow it felt wrong, even now she didn't hate him or fear him.

_He will stop in time._

And then just as sudden as it had begun, he stopped.

"We're meeting at Ric's Corner in five," he said to Bjorn and Yuki, before turning around leaving the room.

Kirya just stood were he'd left her, afraid that if she moved her legs would give in.  
_Please just leave!_ No way she was gonna let them see her like this, and she wasn't going to be able to keep the masquerade up for much longer.

They got up.

"Are you okay," Bjorns voice was concerned.

"I'm fine. Just go, I'll clean up."

He nodded and left. Yuki on the other hand eyed her suspiciosly.

"You're lying. He took way too much."

She tried to smile, reasuringly.

"No, I'm really okay," but her words sounded hollow and just then her knees buckled and gave away under her, her vision starting to blur as well. She landed on the floor in a heap.

_Is this how it feels when you die?_ she wondered dazed.

Yuki was by her side immediately. He picked her up, carrying her effortlessly to the couch, where he put her down carefully.

"I'm cold," she whispered. He nodded.

"I'll be right back." He left her alone for a minute, then he was back again, carrying a quilt and a can of coke. He covered her up tightly, tugging her in. Then he opened the coke.

"You need to drink this."

"I'm not thirsty," she protested weakly.

"Drink," he said firmly and held the coke to her lips. She did as he ordered, not having any strenght left to protest.  
After nearly choking on her first sip, she drank most of the can's contents.

Afterwards she did feel better.

Her eyelids began to drop.

"You'll be just fine, just rest now."

"Thank you, Yuki," she mumbled before sleep engulfed her.

The vampire lingered a moment, watching the sleeping girl. Her face was ashen, and she looked very small and vulnerable. Then he turned around and left.


	10. Chapter 10

**Sorry about the wait for this chapter. Had a lot of stuff to do yesterday, and had to figure out which direction I'm going to take this story.**

**Thank you for the reviews, I love you guys :-) Please feel free to comment on the story.  
**

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Yuki caught up with them just outside Ric's. Damon wondered what he'd been doing. Maybe it hadn't been the brightest idea, to leave the girl alone with him.

"What kept you, Yuki?"

"Just cleaning up the mess you left behind," Yuki answered indifferent.

"You what?" Damon's voice sounded dangerously low.

"Easy tiger, I put the girl to bed." He shrugged. "What's it to you anyway. I wasn't the one who nearly drained her and then left her to fall on her ass; you took care of that all by yourself."

"Hey guys," Bjorn interrupted. Damon looked to be on the verge of flinging himself onto Yuki. "We need to get in, they're waiting," he nodded in the direction of the door.

"Yeah, we'd better not let all those important people wait," Yuki said sarcastic, and ventured inside.  
Damon lingered for a moment.

"Someday that damn mouth of his is gonna get him staked."

"Ha," Bjorn exclaimed. "We used to say the exactly same thing about you."

They entered the bar.

Kirya awoke with the worst headache ever. Groaning she reached for her head as she slowly sat up on the couch. Her memory was a bit blurred and she looked at the clock, to get some idea how long she had slept. It was 5 o'clock in th afternoon.

_Shit! did I sleep for a whole fucking day?_

She looked around. It didn't look like there was anyone at home, but a bag of groceries placed on the kitchen table told her that there had been. She groaned as she walked over to put them away. Her stomach stirred, and she realized how hungry she was.

Even though she felt most like crawling back on the couch, she slowly started fixing something to eat. She knew from experience that food would help her get over the weakness of blood loss a lot faster.

As soon as she'd put the lasagna into the oven, she slumped down on a chair, totally exhausted. She had to fight not to fall a sleep right there slumping over the table.

Kirya was ripped awake. At first she didn't know what had disturbed her. Then a set of knocks impacted on the front door. She got to her feet, wondering who it was. Neither Yuki nor Bjorn ever knocked, they just barged in. She really hoped it wasn't Katherine.

Hurrying to the door, she tried to clear her head, grabbing her scarf on the way to cover up the fresh bite marks.  
She took a deep breath before opening the door, collecting herself.

Outside was a man, and Kirya instantly realised he was human. She didn't know exactly how she knew, but she was sure.

"Can I help you, mr?" she asked politely.

"Oh, hi. My name is Chris Newman, a pleasure to meet you." He reached out his hand, and she took it with only a slight pause.

"Allison Deckard," she lied smoothly.

He eyed her for a second, and then seemed to relax a bit. Did he just realize I was human as well, she wondered?

"I'm here to ask you a couple of questions if you could spare the time." Somehow it didn't sound as a request at all. Something about him made Kirya feel uneasy.

"I'm sorry, but I'm in the mid of cooking dinner."

"It wont take long."

She stepped out in the hall.

"What was this about, again?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. It's just a few questions for the insurance." Somehow Kirya doubted that Damon had any insurance at all.

She hesitated. Apparently she couldn't get him to leave, so she might as well go along untill he came to his point. "Okay, shoot."

"How many do you live here?"

"Just me and my boyfriend."

"How long have you lived here?"

"I moved in a couple of months ago." It was always easiest building a lie on the truth.

"How old are you?"

"I'm 18."

"And your boyfriend?"

_At least a couple of centuries._ "25."

"Isn't that a bit old?" He was staring intently at her.

"Excuse me?"

"Sorry, none of my business. Is he here? I would very much like to talk to him."

"I'm sorry, he's out. I don't know when he'll be back."

Suddenly changing suspect, he eyed her scarf. "Do you feel well, you look a little pale. Caught a cold maybe?"

"Yeah, I've been in bed for most of the week, but I think it's going the right way now, thank you for asking." He nodded, and then again abruptly changed subject.

"So you and your boyfriend get along well?" Before she could answer he added: "You know some men feed on young women." He actually sounded concerned for her.

_He knows._

"Don't you worry Mr. Newman. He's the best thing that ever happened to me." In that moment the street door opened below, and she heard footsteps.

_Fuck._

She didn't think Damon would like the fact that some human was nosing around outside his apartment, asking questions. And the last time she'd seen him he had been in a foul mood.

Newman had also heard the steps, he turned around, his body tensing.

As Damon emerged from the stairs Kirya quickly stepped forward, past Newman. She might not like the guy, but that didn't mean she wanted to see him ripped apart.

"Hi honey, you're home." She smiled hoping she didn't seem to be too fake. She wrapped her arms around him and looked pleadingly into his eyes. _Play along._

An amused smirk appeared on Damon's face and he embraced her as well. And then, he bowed down and kissed her.

She was in complete shock, as his lips gently caressed hers. _What the fuck?!_ He straightened again.

"So who is this guy, hon?"

Kirya had to kick herself mentally to get back into the present.

"Oh, this is Mr. Newman. He's from insurance." Before Newman could even get the chance to say a word, she dragged Damon past him.

"Would you mind go in checking on the lasagna? I think it's almost done." She added something she hoped looked like a loving smile.

"Of course, love." He was making fun of her, using Yuki favourite pet name for her. _Very funny._

He went inside leaving her alone with Newman again.

"So, did you need to ask more questions, or can I go eat dinner?"

"Yeah of course." He sounded a bit confused. He fumbled in his pockets, fishing out a small card. "If you ever need any help or council, feel free to call at any time."

He turned and left without another word.  
She looked at the card, and then absent mindedly put away in her jeans.

She shook her head. Weird guy.

She closed the door and turn around. She was surprised to see Damon standing in the hallway behind her.  
He looked at her with a weird look in his eyes. In the darkness they seemed more black than blue. They were both quiet. Then Damon broke the silence.  
"Congrats. You just saved a life."

She didn't know what to say. The kiss still fluttered around inside her, and the headache had just increased its pounding.

Then he added, almost to himself, "I think I need to keep in mind how good an actress you are." Before turning around entering the living room.

_What the hell was that suposed to mean?_


	11. Chapter 11

**Sorry about the wait for this chapter. I've been busy with my band, Jupid Oak. We're about to make our first album, so we kind of have a lot to do. If you're interested, feel free to hear our latest single or watch our music video on facebook or youtube :-) I wrote this chapter listening to those songs, and some of the songs from our coming album.**

**Please review! and thanks to you who fav's my story and already has reviewed. You make me find the time to write :-)  
**

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The delicious smell of lasagna flooded her senses, as Kirya stepped into the kitchen. Damon had actually done what she'd asked him! Even if she'd only told him, to keep up appearances.

"You need to let it rest for a bit longer."

As usual Damon had snuck up on her. She was bone tired and maybe that was why she responded a bit more sarcastic that she would have done usually.

"So, you're a masterchef as well?"

Anger flared in his facial features, but then it was replaced by amusement.

"Nah...not really, I do know how to pick the perfect bloodbag though." He smiled diabolical, and continued. "But since I was born and raised in Italy, believe it or not, I do know the right way to cook a lasagna."

She froze. Eying her with a smirk he added. "And it needs to rest for at least ten minutes."

"Sorry," she mumbled. "I didn't try to be rude. Maybe I just need a rest as well."

Laughing, Damon said: "That's probably a good idea, I'm not sure I can handle all those sarcastic remarks flying around. I _am_ used to humbleness and obedience. I'll bring in some food when it's ready."

Confused Kirya left the kitchen. This was a totally new side of Damon, that she hadn't seen before. Exhausted she let herself fall onto the couch. She really did tire easily.  
Already dozing off, she had to fight to get into a sitting position when Damon emerged with a portion of the lasagna.

"Dinner is served," he said mockingly, and placed it on the table in front of her.

"Thanks." She smiled to him, but he had already turned his back on her, retrieving the bottle of scotch from the cupboard.

She ate in silence, and Damon was quiet as well, standing facing the window, drinking absent mindedly directly from the bottle. She caught herself staring at his back several times, and had to concentrate to keep her mind on eating. He had been right, by the way. The lasagna was perfect.

When she was done, she quietly carried out the plate and took a long drink directly from the tab. He was acting weird she decided; normally he would be either ecstatic, unable to sit still, drinking, listening to super loud music and mock her just for the fun of it. If that wasn't the case he used to be malicious, and gloomy, and, of course, drinking. He somehow didn't fit any of those tonight. One minute he talked to her like an equal, the next he mocked her and then ignored her. She entered the livingroom again in deep thought.

Damon hadn't moved an inch. She lingered a bit, not able to decide what to do. She bit down on her lip and pulled herself together.  
"Are you alright?"

"Huh?"

"Is there something wrong?"

His voice was cold and distant when he finally spoke. His words shocking her.  
"You don't have to be here anymore, I don't need you. Count yourself released from our deal."

_What? Where did that come from?_  
She took a sharp breath and felt her eyes sting, when his words impacted. Once again she was kicked out on the street. Once again she had to leave home and friends.  
_It's not fair!_ Anger welled up inside her. She wanted to yell at him, and fling herself at him, but she fought the feeling, trying to stay collected.

"If that is what you want me to do." She couldn't keep tears from filling her eyes.  
_When did this place grow so important to you? Just leave and be glad you made it out alive._

But that was easy to say, not to do.

Damon turned around facing her. His face was just as blank as his voice had been. He regarded her, letting his eyes take in all of her. Then his eyes fell on her face. She angrily wiped her eyes.

"Can I sleep here untill tomorrow?"

He just nodded, and she left the room.

That night the nightmares returned. They had taken a new angle. It wasn't just her father now, looming in the shadows, watching as she ran for her life. Damon was there too. Indifferent to her fear, ignoring her cries for help. She tossed and turned all night and when she woke her throat was dry and parched. Had she been screaming in her sleep?

She slowly got to her feet and started collecting her few belongings, stuffing them into her backpack.

_Where should I go? I wonder if any of my old spots is still vacant? Probably not._

She walked, deep in thought out into the hall, and straight into someones chest. She stumbled back looking up meeting Yuki's eyes.

"Sorry," she mumbled.

"Good morning sunshine. What's the rush?" He grabbed her waist and whirled her around, laughing at her objections. Then he saw the backpack.  
He put her back down, eying her concerned.

"What's up, Kirya?" It was so seldom that he used her real name, that she was put a bit out of it. He really did seem concerned.

She evaded his eyes.

"I'm fired."

He sputtered. "You're what!?"

"I thought vampires had excellent hearing."

Normally the comment would have made him laugh, but not today.

"So you're leaving." It was a statement, and Kirya just kept silent.  
"Where to?"

"Dunno. I'm adaptable, I'll figure something out."  
She wanted to add, it's not like you care anyway. But she kept her mouth shut.

His next question took her by surprise.  
"You don't sound too happy about it. Don't you wanna leave?"

She tried to evade.  
"I'm not wanted here, so I'm gonna go."

But he caught onto it. "You didn't answer my question." He reached out, and gently lifted her head, untill she finally looked him in the eye.

When she still didn't say anything, he continued.

"Most people would run as fast as they could if they had been held prisoner by a vampire who fed on their blood."  
Suddenly she was angry, and she could feel her insides boil, as she violently jerked back from his touch.

"Firstly, I'm not most people, Yuki Nakamura. And secondly no one, and I repeat, _no one_, can hold me against my will. I was hired, and now I'm leaving since he obviously doesn't want me in his house anymore."

Yuki burst out laughing, and Kirya wanted to hit him so bad, that she had to ball up her fists to hold herself back.

"Well, then I would like to hire you." Yuki managed to say in between his chuckles.

"Not interested." _Fucking vampire!_

She pushed past him, and left the apartment.


	12. Chapter 12

**Here is a quick follow-up... Hope you'll enjoy... and review :-D**

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Yuki stood a second following her with his eyes, as she walked down the stairs without looking back. Then he closed the door and turned around facing Damon.

"You really hired her?" His voice was full of disbelief.

Damon shrugged. "You could say that."  
When Yuki obviously waited for details, he sighed.  
"Let's have a drink." Without waiting for Yuki he turned around and went into the study.

"I was raiding some stupid social office downtown. Had quite a feast." Yuki interrupted, pouting jokingly. "Why didn't you invite me?"

Damon laughed. "Hey, it was a kind of heat of the moment thing. I was just gonna lure one of them outside, but you know, what's the fun in that?" He took a sip of his scotch.  
"Well, anyways, she was the first to catch onto it, and you know how delicious she smells."

"Oh yeah," Yuki said with a dreaming look on his face. "Must be delicious." Damon felt annoyance crawl up his back, but chose to ignore it.

"She didn't fight me, so I played around with her a little, and then just as I'm gonna rip open her fucking neck, she asks me for a job."

Yuki erupted in laughter.  
"No..fucking...way!"  
Damon couldn't hold back a laugh as well.

"Yeah, just my thought at the time. So I played along, using that shoot yourself bullshit you tended to like."

Yuki's eyes widened. "No way."

"Yes way, she fucking did it! Shot herself in the hand at point-blank. You don't know how fucking hard it was not sucking her dry just then. But I was intrigued, I guess, so I finished the others and took her back home."

They were both quiet for some time.

Then Yuki broke the silence. "You're an idiot, Damon." Damon's eyes narrowed.  
"Don't tell me you just let that girl walk out of here like that? Hell, you sent her a-_fucking_-way? Why didn't you turn her?"

"You obviously haven't tasted her blood."

Yuki grimaced. "Haha, very funny." He got serious again. "I still can't get why you let her go, but you do know that she wont make it. Right? There's too many here who has her scent imprinted. If they even catch a whiff of her, they'll find her and finish her off."

Damon shook his head, toying with his daylight ring.  
"They wont dare."

Yuki raised his eyebrows.  
"What about Katherine?"

Damon froze, his fingers still lingering on the ring. Then he was out the door in a split second.

Yuki smiled, emptying his glass. He made a refill, and leaned back into the couch, placing his feet on the table. "I present to you: the Damon Salvatore, badass vampire, slayer of a thousand men and last but not least, head of the resistance. Taking off to save a human girl." He lifted his hands to take in the non existing audience's applaud. He laughed to himself.

_I guess his humanity is back in business_.

_Who would have thought that._

After 10 minutes walk, Kirya let herself fall down on a bench. She was completely lost. She still hadn't figured out where she should go, or how she should get something to eat. Her stomach growled. She had intended to go get something from the kitchen before leaving, had it not been for Yuki.  
_Dumbass._  
She sighed. Maybe she was being a bit hard on him. He had helped her when Damon nearly drained her, and he always brought her groceries. Of course he was always such a tease, but that was just the way he was. Always seeing the humor in a given situation.

But then why was it she felt such a repulsion at his offer to give her a job? Who'd it be that much different to let him drink her blood? To stay wherever he lived? Afterall she knew him better than she had known Damon in the beginning. And they were friends, well, sort of anyway.

Still, the thought of him feeding from her gave her the chills.

The real reason for the headache that was creeping in on her, however, was why Damon wanted her to leave?  
His moods changed so fast all the time, but somehow she had never feared him kicking her out. There had been some kind of understanding between them, or so she had thought. She grimaced, rubbing her temples.

Did he really think that she had acted out of fear the whole time? That he was forcing her? Hah! Like he was ever gonna be able to do that. She had gotten out from under her fathers tight grip when she was fourteen. And she would get away again from anyone wanting to control her or use her against her will.

Deep in thought Kirya didn't see the car that pulled up right next to her. Only when the window silently slid down, did she look up.

It was him.

"Get in." _What?_  
Her insides were in turmoil. But she kept a straight face.

"Why?"

He was obviously taken aback by the question, and her tone.  
"You can stay. I'm rehiring you, or whatever." He waved with his hand.

"And if I don't want to? Are you gonna force me? or am I your prisoner now?" She spat out the words angrily. For the first time letting her frustration get free reins.

He shrugged.  
"I was under the impression you didn't want to leave, but I've been wrong about you before."

She thought for a moment. His crystal blue eyes didn't leave her for a second. "What made you change your mind?" She met his gaze steadily.

Now it was his time to be silent for a while.  
"Well, girl, I'm hungry. Simple as that."

She nodded.

"Well then. There's just a few things I need cleared up... Firstly I will need payment from now on. Cash. Secondly, I wont take any form of curfew."

Damon seemed a bit taken aback by her blunt demands. But he just waved his hand.

"Whatever."

"It's a deal then."

She got in the car, not really wanting to accept the wave of release that flushed her.

_I'm not going to lose him... I mean lose them and my home,_ she mentally corrected herself. She still couldn't fathom why she felt such a strong pull towards him.

He accelerated quickly away from the sidewalk. Getting her focus back she drew up her sleeve and reached her wrist out for him. She hoped she had recovered enough from the last time he'd bitten her.

Eyeing her, and with an amused look on his face he shook his head in disbelief before taking her wrist in his hand and leading it to his mouth.

The pain she had become so used to was only there for a fleeing moment. Damon steered the car expertly with one hand, and Kirya let herself relax against the seat. She felt safe.

A wave of pleasure hit her body out of the blue and she tensed, gasping. Next to her Damon also jerked back, hitting the brakes so hard that the car slid several meters before coming to a halt. Fortunately the street was mostly deserted.

He breathed out heavily.

"What the _fuck_ was that!?" he exclaimed.  
The wave was gone but it had left her inside completely dizzy and weirdly at ease. She just shrugged not able to speak just yet.

They sat there for quite a while not saying a word or looking at each other, just getting a hold on themselves. Then finally Damon threw the car into gear and took her home.


	13. Chapter 13

**Sorry about the wait for this chapter. I am really busy this week, since I'm recording my bands first album live this thursday, and is planning the the event. There's so much to do. However I will do my best to at least publish one more chapter this week. **

**I hope this one isn't too boring or too short. We get to learn a bit more about Kirya's past. Please review! If it hadn't been for Dark-Lelu and bettingonalice01 this chapter wouldn't have been written yet. And Merry Christmas to you all :-D  
**

* * *

She was in a daze the rest of the day, as she absent-minded cleaned the apartment, and then just laid down on the couch. Her thoughts kept spiralling back to that moment in the car...

She wasn't allowed to lie down for long though. Yuki jumped her, making her shriek in surprise.

"I see you've changed your mind," he said smiling, as she swore loudly and tried to make her heart go back to its normal steady rhythm. She glared at him.

"Fuck you, Yuki."

From behind someone chuckled. They both turned around. It was Damon, leaning against the wall with a mocking smile on his face.  
"It's nice to see that there's someone who doesn't fall for your charm," he teased Yuki, as he retrieved the bottle of scotch.

Yuki shrugged. "Well, sometimes it just takes a little time. Right my love?" He said to Kirya, who eyed him angrily.

"Yeah, or a couple of centuries!" It was hard to hold onto her anger though. That relieved feeling just kept filling her, making her want to smile. She sighed.  
"Does anyone want a sandwich or something?"

"We were actually just about to leave, got a meeting downtown." Damon sounded almost apologetic. Kirya looked at him with surprise, but quickly made her face blank. He had never told her were he was going. Normally he just left.

_Wonder if he's also got this weird feeling?_

Yuki eyed his watch, an old battered Casio.  
"And we're already late. Again." He went over to the door, gripping Damon by the arm.

"See ya."

And then, like that, they were gone.

Kirya stood for a moment lost in thought, then she shrugged and went into the kitchen. She was hungry.

Emerging from the kitchen with two gigantic sandwiches and a can of coke, she sat down in the couch, and flicked on the television. She zapped through the channels while eating the first sandwich. Finally she left it on the news.

The speaker told about a new gang terrorizing the streets, then the image changed and showed pictures from some kind of memorial. Kirya paid little attention to the TV, until a familiar voice suddenly ripped her back to reality.

Her blood froze. On the screen was a tall middle-aged man, in a dark suit. He was holding a speak of sorts in a solemn voice.  
Kirya was paralyzed. The image changed to an altar with pictures on it, zooming in on one of them. Kirya couldn't rip away her gaze.

On the screen 14-year-old Kirya was staring right back at her. Her hair was longer, and she looked slightly bored.

_"...Now, four years after the disappearance of Michelle Kyriana Black, the search has finally been closed, and the young girl declared dead. A big memorial is held here in Chicago, and lots of important people has shown up today, to pay their respects to her father Michael Black, billionaire and oilmagnat..._"

The image shifted to a panorama of the attendees, and Kirya recognized several faces.  
The news moved on.  
Slowly Kirya grabbed the remote, and turned the TV off.

So he had finally let her go. She sighed with relief. Things would be a lot easier now, she guessed. With no price on her head, she would be able to let go of the fear of being caught and brought back.

She started to eat again. It was for the best being dead. It did shake her a bit though, that her father had chosen to hold the memorial here in Chicago. It could have been anywhere.  
Last time she'd checked up on him on the net, he had lived in New York, before that he'd been in Japan. She shook it of. He moved all the time. There had always been a new town or country, a new business, new banquets, new faces.

She had hated every second of it. He wanting her to be his little lap dog, showing her off to his clients.  
She had learned to live with it. Being polite, not letting her true feelings and thoughts escape through her facade. But at some point she'd had enough.

Suddenly a terrible thought sprang into her mind. The last bit of sandwich dropped from her hands, landing on the floor.

What if someone else had seen the news? Damon, Yuki, Bjorn or some of the other vampires? Did they even watch the news? She looked different now of course. She had started wearing glasses instead of contacts, and cut of her hair. But still, it wasn't like her face had changed that much.

She bit her lip. Suddenly her relief and her appetite was completely gone.


	14. Chapter 14

**Sorry for the wait. There's a bit of drama in this one ;-)  
If you really like this story, please review. I find it pretty hard to find the time to write, and it is always a review that makes me sit down and write. So please help me continue this story, by reviewing :-D All thoughts, ideas and so on is more than welcome. I will try to respond everyone.**

**This time it was a guest (lenna) who made me kick myself and write. Thank you for that, I hope you like this chapter.  
**

* * *

The girl acted weird, when he got back late in the evening. Damon could feel her unease as soon as he walked in the door. Normally she would be asleep by now, but instead she was walking around restlessly, pretending to clean, even though the room was obviously spotless.

He headed for the couch, and threw his leather jacket on the floor. He caught her look his way, but when she noticed him watching her, she quickly resumed her meaningless task.

"Stop fidgeting."

She flinched at his words.  
"Sorry," she mumbled. She stood still, apparently unsure of what to do.

Damon sighed.  
"Grab the scotch and a couple of glasses. I think we both need a drink."

He leaned back and closed his eyes for a moment. A wave of that bliss, that had haunted him all day, rolled over him. He heard her leaving for the kitchen to retrieve the glasses. He had to shake himself out of it, when she set the glasses on the table.  
He straightened.  
"Sit."

She obeyed, but she still looked stiff and uneasy.  
As he poured the scotch, he nodded for her to take one of the glasses. She did so, reluctantly.

"Evviva." He rose his glass, and took a sip, but when she didn't react, he rolled his eyes.  
"It's italian for cheers. It means: drink!"

It seemed like he finally got through to her. She blushed.

"Sorry." Then she lifted her glass and added. "Evviva."  
She surprised him by taking a deep gulp, almost emptying the glass. He rose his eyebrows.

"Looks like someone needed it."

In the end it took only three refills to get her drunk.

Kirya could feel the liquor getting a hold of her.  
_This is such a bad idea._

But somehow the thought didn't make her less giddy. Damon was watching her, an amused look on his face. In her drunken state she had concluded that he probably hadn't seen the news. And now that she thought about it, she found it hard to imagine, how the fact that she was some rich kid runaway, would mean anything to him anyway. He was dead, for Christ sake!

_And so am I_, she realized.

The thought made her laugh out loud.

"What's so funny?" Damon was lazing back in the couch. She had to fight to get control over her laughter, and had to dry her eyes.

"It's just the fact that right now, two dead people are sitting right here getting wasted." She giggled and took another sip of scotch. Damon clearly thought she had lost her mind.

"There's what?"

"Well, we're both dead, sort of. Obviously not dead in the same way, but still."  
Somewhere in the back of her head, a voice told her to shut up now, but she just kept babbling.  
"I just saw it in the news today. I'm officially dead. They made a memorial and all."

"Girl, you lost me completely there. What the fuck are you talking about?" There was an edge to his voice, and Kirya could feel her stomach tighten. "I'm sorry, Damon. I just... I'm a bit drunk. I apologize." She moved to get up, but lost her balance.

He caught her in his arms, moving quick as lightning. Lifting her, he placed her gently on the couch again.  
"Sit down." His voice was firm, and she obeyed, unable to meet his eyes.  
"Now you will talk, coherently. Look at me."

Kirya surprised herself by shaking her head.  
"No."

He grabbed her chin and forced her face up. Suddenly fear and anger overwhelmed her. She squeezed her eyes shut, and taking Damon completely by surprise, she hit him with all she had. His grip eased for a second, but then he grabbed her even harder. She gathered her thoughts. "Please, don't compel me. Please." She could feel tears start forming in her eyes.  
"I'll tell you everything. Just, please..." she trailed of. She still didn't dare lifting her eyes to his. She'd heard Yuki and Bjorn talk about compulsion, and it had scared her to even imagine it. To have your actions and feelings dictated. Your free will, completely gone.

He had been quiet, while her insides were in turmoil. Now he opened his mouth.

"Look at me." She started crying for real. Slowly she lifted her head, to face him.

"Open your eyes." His voice was low but stern. She bit her lower lip. She didn't want it to happen. Didn't want him to compel her. But at the same time she couldn't resist. It _was_ Damon. And she was just so accustomed to do whatever he asked of her. Hell, she even trusted him, she realized... And slowly she opened her eyes.

He was so close. Only a few inches parted them. Tears streaked her face.  
Catching her gaze he continued:  
"Kirya, I have not compelled you before, and I promise you now that I will never compel you. Okay?"

He looked straight into her eyes, like he was searching for something. It took time for his words to sink in. And then suddenly she shuttered and nearly collapsed in his arms.  
He sighed and wrapped his arms around her, as she sobbed against his chest.

"You know, I might already regret that statement. You're drenching my shirt." But his voice was soft as he said it, and he didn't push her away.

Kirya didn't know how long they sat like that. When her tears finally had stopped, she slowly drew back, and dried her face in her sleeve.

"Thanks," she mumbled.

Damon stood up, picking up the bottle from the table. He took a sip, before stating: "No more scotch for you tonight."

She almost laughed. "I think _that's_ a plan."

She could still feel the alcohol in her system, but not as uncontrollable as before.  
She took in a deep breath, and then started talking.

She told him everything from the beginning. How she'd run away from home and had to hide out, to escape all the people looking for her. How she'd learned to survive on the street by finding food in garbage (she blushed, when she told that bit), and how she one year almost froze to death.  
Every now and then, when she couldn't find words, he just waited untill she picked it up again, or asked about details.

It was strange talking with him like this. But nice. Really nice. She found herself almost at ease, speaking of those things she'd never told anyone about.  
When she was finished, they both sat in silence.

Later when Yuki came by, Kirya was fast a sleep on one couch, covered in a blanket, and Damon sleeping just as sound on the other. An empty bottle of scotch still in his hand.


	15. Chapter 15

**This is a Kirya/Yuki chapter. I hope you will enjoy it. Happy new year, and stay tuned. I'm continuing to write another chapter today, I think. Hopefully you will have it tonight, or tomorrow at the latest. **

**While writing today, I've listened to Jeff Buckley's album "Grace". Usually I don't dig Jeff Buckley, but today it was just perfect :-)  
**

* * *

Kirya barged past Yuki and into the bathroom just in time. She reached the toilet, and vomited. When her stomach finally was completely empty, she just slumped against the toilet seat. She felt like shit.

_Never again_, she promised herself. _I'll never ever drink scotch again._

She heard someone by the door, and looked up. Yuki was standing there, trying to hide a smirk, and failing completely.  
"Rough night?" Kirya just groaned in response.

The following days was pretty much like always, with only few changes. Kirya cooked, cleaned and hung out with Yuki and Bjorn. Even though she wasn't under curfew any longer she didn't go out. She figured it would be best to lie low a couple of weeks, instead of risking to be recognized so shortly after her face had been on the news.  
She started to surf the net, looking into everything, from new recipes to folklore about vampires. She would talk to Bjorn about her new knowledge, since he was the one who was easiest to get answers from.  
The late night meetings were increasing, and most of the time the apartment was flooded with vampires.

With the vampires came the humans. They were dinner of course, and always under heavy compulsion. Kirya talked with some of them, but they always seemed a bit dazed and confused, and as they always left the next day with no memory of what had happened, she soon just ignored them, unless they addressed her directly. In the beginning she felt like a bad person, for not helping them. But she could do nothing, and she knew they wouldn't get seriously hurt.

There was one thing, however, that bugged her more than she would admit to anyone. Damon hadn't fed on her.

Not once since that time in the car. She knew that she should be glad, but somehow she just wasn't.

_Am I turning into some kind of vampire junkie? Addicted to be bitten?_

She discarded the thought, but still she felt weirdly unwanted. After a week, the headaches started. She felt like a stuffed animal, like she had too much blood coursing through her veins. Sometimes she caught herself stroking the spot where he used to bite her.

At times like that, she would escape to her spot on the roof to clear her thoughts.

She was studying the clouds above her when she heard a child's voice from inside the apartment. Her head snapped up.

_They did not..._

Quickly she climbed back in through the window. The boy was standing next to Yuki, not more than nine years old or so. His hair was almost silver white and fell into his green eyes. He didn't seem scared, just curious, as he looked around.  
Yuki smiled when he saw Kirya.

"There you are! Would you mind fixing something for Benjamin to eat?" To the boy, Benjamin, he added: "You're hungry, right?"

Kirya had to strain herself, to keep from just attacking Yuki right there, but she didn't want to scare the kid unnecessarily. Instead she just shot Yuki an angry glare.

"Yeah, of course, come here Benjamin, I'll find you something to eat."

She guided the boy into the kitchen and pointed him to a chair.

"So your name is Benjamin, right?" The boy just nodded, eying the sandwich she was making.  
"I'm Kirya. How old are you?"

He tore his eyes away from the food, and looked at her.  
"I'm eleven. I'm just short for my age."

Kirya finished the sandwich and placed it on a plate in front of him, before turning away to get him something to drink as well. When she turned to him again he was already half way through.  
"When did you eat last, Benjamin?" she asked softly as she gave him the coke.

He answered, his mouth still half full. "Dunno. Yesterday, or the day before that I think."  
_Streetkid_, Kirya concluded.

"Well, then there is more where it came from. But you need to eat slowly, or you'll get sick."

Benjamin nodded solemnly. "I know, but it just tastes so good," he said, taking another bite, this time he did chew it a bit more slowly.

Kirya couldn't help but smile. "Thank you Benjamin. You know what? I'll just go talk with Yuki for a moment, then I will come back and make a proper dinner. Is that okay?"

He nodded, and again had his full attention on the food.

Kirya walked in, finding Yuki still in the living room, talking with Alex, Katherine's boyfriend, or whatever. Normally she wouldn't interrupt, but she was furious, and she stalked right up, gripping Yuki by the arm.

"Sorry Alex, but I have something important to discuss with Yuki." With those words she almost dragged Yuki out into the hallway.

"Whoa. What's up Love?"

"What's up? What's up!?" she hissed, trying to keep her voice down. "You just brought home an eleven year old kid, and you ask me what's up?"

"Hey, relax..." She cut him off.

"No, Yuki, I will not relax! It's a kid, for Gods sake! I may be only human and all, but I swear if you do not let him go, I will fucking kill you!"

"I'd like to see you try, Kirya, I really would." Yuki said in a low voice."But you are being a fucking hypocrite. He was living on the streets, same as you. Do you think he's better of there? Huh? Do you think he will survive? He looks like a friggin' bag of bones. I got the impression you prefered being here, even though that meant a vampire using you as a snack, at his every fucking whim! And how old are you? 16? 17? not more than a god damn kid yourself."

"I'm 18!" Kirya snarled.

"So officially an adult," Yuki mocked.

Kirya didn't know how to respond. She knew there was some truth in his words. A boy like Benjamin would almost certainly die on the streets. Winter was coming, and he already looked half-starved to death. But she just couldn't bear to just let the vampires have him.

"So then what? Are you gonna keep him like a pet? Or just drain him so he will have an end to his obviously miserable life? What a hero you are, Yuki. And even if you keep him alive, what do you think something like this would do to a kids mind?"

Yuki was about to answer, when the boy in question emerged from the living room.

"If you don't want me here, I can leave. That is what you are arguing about, right?"

Kirya didn't know what to say. He looked so small and helpless as he stood there, trying to be brave. In the end it was Yuki who answered.

"Well, Ben, Kirya here was just worried that you would not like to be here."

Benjamin looked at her. "It's a lot better than the streets. And you make very nice sandwiches."  
Kirya couldn't help smile.

"Still hungry?"

Benjamin looked embarrassed at his feet.  
"A little bit."

Kirya eyed Yuki a last time. "This discussion is not over." Then she turned to the boy.

"Lets go cook dinner."


	16. Chapter 16

In the end Benjamin stayed, and Kirya never got around to kill Yuki. Mostly because Ben's blood was left all to himself. None of the vampires touched him. In the beginning Kirya hadn't let him out of her sight, afraid of what could happen. But when she woke up one morning and found Yuki trying to learn Ben how to play poker, she finally let go of her fear.

She found that she actually enjoyed having a kid around. Even though she had to clean more often, especially when Ben had helped cooking. It helped her to keep her mind of Damon, who seldom was home anymore.  
One time when he'd been there, she'd actually openly offered him her blood, and he'd only pushed her away with the words; "Not now, girl."  
She had cried afterwards when she was alone, and hating herself for being so vulnerable.

She was just tucking Ben in, when she heard someone enter the apartment.  
_Damon_?

She quickly kissed on the forehead, before leaving him to sleep.

She clenched her hands in the hallway, hearing voices from the kitchen. She would confront him tonight. She could not handle a second more of this, not knowing, why he acted like he did.

When she entered the kitchen, she immediately felt the tension. A vampire she had never seen before stood with his back to her. Yuki, Bjorn, Alex and Katherine was sitting by the table, obviously interrupted in one of their meetings. They all looked on the edge, and disappointed Kirya realized Damon was nowhere in sight.

They all turned their attention to her. The stranger turning around. He was good-looking, duh, all vampires seemed to look like underwear models. His hair was blond and cropped short, and stubble covered his chin. His eyes were electric blue, and his gaze sent shivers down her spine. He huffed and looked back at the others.

"I've never understood what Damon saw in brunettes. You're all so plain-looking." The last remark, he directed at Katherine. Alex had to physically hold her back, to stop her from jumping the stranger. Instead she hissed, fangs all out in the open.

"What do you want, Klaus?" It was Yuki who spoke up.  
In that instant Kirya realized they were all afraid. Four vampires afraid of one. She shuttered.

"I'm not sure I like your tone, young Nakamura. But since I'm in the sharing corner, I will tell you."

Kirya couldn't decide whether she should leave them or stay. They all ignored her completely, so she should probably just slip out unnoticed. But still, in a fight, five against one was better than four. And she had the feeling that this could very well turn into just that.

Klaus continued talking. His accent sounded almost british, but it did not fit in completely.  
"Damon has failed to report in, so I just thought I would drop by to see if he was alright." His voice was full of fake concern. From the corner of the table Bjorn growled.

"Now I guess I've just have to wait for his return. Even though I must admit the welcome I've got here does not help his cause."  
Suddenly he twirled around again facing Kirya.  
"A snack _would_ help lighten my mood a bit though." He was almost crouching, suddenly looking like a predator, ready to jump his prey.

Kirya wanted to run, every bone in her body told her to get out of there. But she held her ground.

Yuki was on his feet. "Klaus! The girl is not yours to take. She belongs to Damon, and it would be a severe insult against him and his household to break the Law."

"You would be clever to back off, Nakamura. I am above the Law, and we both know it."

The situation was escalating too fast. Kirya's thoughts raced. She needed to do something, and it had to be now.  
So she did the only thing she could think of. She smiled and stepped forward, using her childhood mask, covering her feelings. She gazed at Yuki, willing him to shut up.

"I'll be happy to be at your service, Mr. Klaus. Damon would not want a guest to be badly treated in his home." She said, hiding the fear from her voice. She sounded almost convincing.

Klaus straightened, with an amused smirk on his lips.  
"I'll give him that, he knows how to train his pets." He caught her by the chin and looked into her eyes. "And with no compulsion at all. I'm impressed."

Kirya took in a shallow breath, and tipped her head to the side. She was scared, but, she tried to reason with herself, she'd done it many times before. It couldn't be that much different.

Klaus smirked and leaned over. She could see how Yuki's fists clenched, his face white, as Klaus loomed over her. The others wore similar faces. Even Katherine. Hoping Klaus wouldn't notice, she signaled with her hand for them that she was alright, and mouthed "back off".

Her focus returned to Klaus, when he leaned in and whispered in her ear.  
"Scream for me."

_Yeah, in your dreams, motherfucker!_

He bit down on her neck, faster than a snake. And she screamed.

* * *

**This is a shorty, and sorry about the cliffhanger as well :-S Please tell me what you think... Happy New Year!**


	17. Chapter 17

Damon walked up the stairs, lost in thought. He'd done everything to quench the thirst, even drained one guy, earlier today. But still just the thought of being in the same building as her, was almost impossible to stand. He hadn't felt like this since... But he was not going to give in. Not going to...

And then he heard the scream. He stopped dead in his tracks, as sensations overwhelmed him.

_Ripped flesh. Blood. Pain. Terror._ He ran.

Kirya only screamed once. But as the excruciating pain engulfed her, it was so overwhelming, that somehow her mind ripped it self away from her body, putting distance between it self and all the pain. She could hear how the vampire ripped at her throat though, even feel the blood drench her. Her own blood.  
She saw the others watching, paralysed.

Yuki saw the terror in Kirya's face, and felt helplessly frozen to the spot. He could only watch as Klaus almost chewed his way through skin and flesh. Kirya who never seemed afraid of anything, never got fazed by anything. She was gonna die, he slowly realized. Klaus would not stop, and he, Yuki, could do nothing. Klaus was too strong.

Katherine heard him on the stairs. None of the others seemed to notice. Not even Klaus, with his supreme senses. He was too absorbed by the blood. So Kathrine put herself in position stepping slightly back from the others. She tried discretely to get their attention, but their full attention were on the bloodbath in front of them.

_Fucking boys_!  
Her eyes found Kirya's. The girl was actually still alive and still conscious, if only for a few seconds more, by the rate Klaus was draining her.  
Well it was worth a try. He was gonna be here within seconds, and they needed a diversion.  
Holding the girls gaze she mouthed "Damon", nodding discretely in the direction of the door. Kirya's eyes widened, but then she slumped unconsciously in Klaus' grip.

_Shit! Fucking worth-for-nothing human!_

__She just hoped Damon would bring the item, or they would all be dead.

She did not doubt that he would take on Klaus in a heartbeat, no matter his chances. He _was_ Damon Salvatore after all.

As Damon burst through the door several things happened at once;

Klaus looked up at the defeated crowd in front of him, with a satisfactory look on his face. His eyes narrowed as Katherine hissed and threw herself forward.

Kirya, whose body hang limply in Klaus grip, came alive, jamming her elbow into his stomach. She caught him by surprise, but of course it didn't have much effect on him.

Damon was on him in that exact moment, growling furiously.

Kirya felt her heart skip a beat as she saw him covering the space between the door and Klaus in a blur. They all landed in a pile on the floor. Her head was dizzy and her eyesight began to dwindle. She was pushed away violently, hitting the cabinets.

She couldn't move. Didn't have any strength left.

_I'm going to die_, she realized oddly detached._ At least I saw him one last time_.

She didn't lose conscience right then though. She just laid and watched everything happen in front of her, registering what happened, but not being able to feel anything about it.

Katherine was fighting alongside Damon, but Klaus was obviously stronger and faster than any of them. He was laughing, Kirya could only hear him distantly.

Damon fighting with total abandon, retrieved something from his jacket. It looked like a dagger of sorts.

_I thought he said himself that metal doesn't hurt vampires_, she mused.

He threw himself at Klaus, death in his eyes.

Klaus was behind him faster than anything Kirya had ever seen. He grabbed Damon by the arm and broke it without hesitation. The crack as the bone splintered brought Kirya's hearing back. The dagger fell from Damon's hand and clattered to the floor. But he didn't stop fighting.

Klaus just laughed madly as he slowly started pressing his hand against Damon's chest. Damon roared in pain as Klaus' hand began pressing through flesh.

Kirya wanted to scream, wanted to do something, but along with her hearing the pain had returned, and the only thing she managed was a weak moan.

But now Yuki entered the fight, he threw himself, not at Klaus, but at Damon. Ripping him away from the originals death grip. Damon landed in a heap on the floor, out of the fight for the moment. Yuki faced Klaus.

Benjamin was frightened. When he had heard Kirya scream, he had bounced out of bed. Now peeking in through the door, he was pretty sure she was dead, lying all still in a corner of the room, blood all over.  
The bad man had Yuki pinned down on the floor.

Ben was only a kid, but he knew one thing: He had never been treated better than he'd been here. Mr. Yuki had saved him from a gang of older kids, wanting to beat him up for stealing on their turf. And now the bad man was going to kill his only friend. He would have to live in the streets again, having to hide and steal.

Determinately he ran into the room. As he passed the moaning Damon on the floor, his foot hit something. He looked down. It was a long pointed knife. It almost looked like the one his dad had always threatened Ben and his mom with.

He grinded his teeth and picked it up.

Yuki knew it was over. For real this time. This was nothing like they had planned it, all their meetings about killing Klaus had wound up to nothing at all, and he felt the urge to laugh.

So stupid they had been to think, Klaus would not see through all their secrecy. And Yuki had been a fucking idiot himself, for going along. He at least should have known better.

Klaus was on top of him now, pressing him down.

"I'm gonna drain you, like a fucking blood bag, and then I'll eat your heart, Nakamura."  
_How ironic_, Yuki thought as Klaus bit down. _So this is how it feels to be at the other end of the food chain._ He gasped as his life force was sucked out of him.

It stopped so fast, that he didn't even realized what happened. Klaus suddenly jerked back, his face full of horror. Then slowly his face turned ashen, his skin transforming into what almost looked like parchment, and the spark left his eyes as he tumbled over and away from Yuki.

Above him stood the boy, tears running down his face. The dagger, which had been covered in ash from the white oak, deeply sunk into Klaus back.

* * *

**I hope it's not too hard to follow the POVs. I don't know if the editor here shows all the line breaks I put in to help separate them. **

**Today I'm gonna slip in a little sneak peek of next chapter :-) **

**_Everything was chaos. Katherine was running for Damon, Alex for Katherine. Kirya, possibly dead on the floor. Weak from the blood loss, Yuki's surprise turned into an immediate and uncontrollable hunger. He launched himself onto the boy, fangs protruded...  
_**

**Stay tuned, I am officially in a writing frenzy!  
**


	18. Chapter 18

Everything was chaos. Katherine was running for Damon, Alex for Katherine. Kirya, possibly dead on the floor. Weak from the blood loss, Yuki's surprise of seeing Ben in front of him, turned into an immediate and uncontrollable hunger. He launched himself onto the boy, fangs protruded.

A hand caught him in the air. Yuki fought the restraint furiously. The boy just standing frozen to the ground in front of him. Completely in shock. Someone was screaming in his ear, but the only thing Yuki could concentrate on, was the pulse in Ben's neck. Ben? The name hit him hard, as the words Bjorn was shouting to him, started to compile into sentences with meaning to him.

"Yuki, you need control!" the words were urgent, but Yuki still driven by hunger, just hissed and tried to break away from Bjorn's steel grip.  
"Alex, get over here and give me hand, will ya?"

A second pair of hands constrained Yuki.

"We need some blood bags, fast." Bjorn was talking over Yuki's head. It annoyed him a bit.

"Why the fuck can't he just have the boy? Straight from the vein, that is what works the best."

Bjorn growled, and somewhere inside Yuki felt he should have a problem with Alex' statement as well, he just couldn't quite get around to it.

"Just get the fucking bloodbags from the fridge, or get out!"

"Whatever."  
Alex turned around and walked away angrily, on his way out he gripped Katherine by the arm and dragged her along.  
"We're leaving."

Katherine cast one glance at his face, and followed, leaving Damon behind on the floor.

"What's wrong with Yuki," Ben asked, finally having regained his speech.  
Yuki had calmed down a bit, but still stared unwavering at the kid's throat.

Bjorn answered, not letting his grip loosen a bit.

"Don't worry kiddo, Yuki'll be just fine. He's just hungry, that's all. You know what? Maybe you'd better go back to your room for now."  
Ben bit his lip and nodded. On the verge of tears again.

"He will be alright, right Bjorn?"

"Yes, yes he'll be just fine." Bjorn huffed, sounding almost out of breath from holding Yuki back. "Now scoot!"

Ben nodded before turning around fleeing the room.

As the kid left them, Yuki was slowly able to regain control of himself.

* * *

Damon got up. His wounds were already healing. But there was only one thought in his head.  
_Where is she?_ His eyes darted around, finally focusing on her limp body on the floor. He wanted to run over to her, but it felt like he was moving through knee-deep mud, as he slowly walked over.

He let himself fall onto his knees next to her. Ignoring everything around him. Even the fact that Klaus lay, dead for now, on the floor couldn't distract him.

She was covered in her own blood, a deep and torn wound covering her left shoulder from neck to collarbone. He listened closely as he lifted her onto his lap. Was she alive? She had to be alive...

And then he heard it;  
A weak pulse, unsteadily beating inside her.

He quickly lifted his wrist and tore at it with his teeth. before swiftly pressing it against her mouth.

"Drink, girl. Drink." His voice was rough, and he could hardly recognize it himself.

It felt like a decade before she responded, but then she pressed her lips harder against his wrist, sucking in the liquid that would save her life. He sighed in relief, not even aware that he had held his breath. When she pulled away, he started to protest, but the look on her face made him shut up.

She was crying again, so much fear in her features. She grabbed his jacket with her right hand and tried to speak. She had to try several times before the words came out the right way.

"Please Damon. Please." She sunk back moaning in pain, even though her wounds was already very slowly beginning to heal. Perplexed Damon embraced her and held her tight.

"Please what? Kirya, talk to me! What's wrong?"

She sobbed and pressed against his body, whispering.  
"It's terrible. It's like he's still in me. Biting. Killing me. Please make it stop." She started shaking uncontrollably.

Damon had never felt so helpless. And the fact that they were now both covered in her blood, didn't help to make him concentrate. How could it keep hurting her, when she was healing?

Her eyes suddenly blinked open and they held each others gaze.  
"Why don't you want me anymore?" Her voice was so low and sad that it was almost inaudible.

And then Damon Salvatore lost all the control he had fought so hard to gain the past weeks. He bowed down over her and sunk his fangs into her soft skin. Savoring the taste of her blood, and the feeling of her so close. The wave hit them both, rolled over them, through them, engulfing them in completely and utterly bliss.

It was only when he sensed her heart miss a beat, that he regained his senses enough to pull away. Weakly she tried to stop him, but he was of course stronger.

"You'll die if I take more."

"I don't care."

"But I do."

She didn't argue any further just let herself relax in his arms, as sleep claimed her.

Damon finally looked around him. The kitchen was totally destroyed, and in the middle of it all, Yuki sat ass on the floor grinning at him while emptying bloodbag after bloodbag.

Directed at Bjorn, Damon asked annoyed: "What the fuck is his problem?"

Yuki cut in indignant.

"Hey I'm right here." He threw away the last empty bag and stretched, resembling a cat lazing on a sunny porch. "I just always thought it was at myth."

"What was a myth? And what the hell are you taking about?" his voice was still brusque, but he was absent mindedly stroking Kirya's hair with his fingertips.

"Oh, well, just that you and your little doll there, seemed to have quite a pleasurable moment two seconds ago." Damon snorted, but Yuki just ignored him and continued.

"You're quite acquainted with the sire bond, right? so this is another myth from that branch. Have you heard about the willing donor? A human wanting to give away his or her blood freely?"

Damon laughed out loud. "Come on Yuki, did Klaus suck out your brains? Isn't that why we have compulsion? 90 percent of our meals are what you call _willing_."

Yuki just shook his head.  
"That's not it. The mind is tricked into willingness, that is not the same as wanting it truly to happen. But what do I know." He laughed. "I do feel a bit light-headed. What do you say, you tuck the girl in, while I go make ammends to the kiddo? Then we'll meet here to discuss what the fuck we're gonna do with that." He pointed jokingly over his shoulder at Klaus' still body.

Damon and Bjorn shook their heads, not quite able to follow Yuki's change of subjects. But they did go with the plan.

Damon was lost in thought as he carried Kirya into his own bedroom. Willing donor. But how... And why? What had he done that would make her want such thing? And it hadn't been like that before. Only that time in the car and now. Before that it had hurt her, he was pretty sure. Of course she'd tried her best to hide it, but the pain had been there, he was sure of it.

So what had changed? He'd sent her away, guilty that he had almost drained her. But why did it even matter to him, if he drained some silly girl?

He couldn't find an answer, and in the end he just shoved it all away to the back of his mind. He had to stay focused. Klaus was dead, well for now anyway, since the dagger would have to remain in his heart. But still, the plans had to be set in movement.

He sighed and rose from the bed. She looked so innocent lying there, even with the splashes of blood still all over her. When he let go of her, she mumbled his name in sleep and rolled over.

He shook his head, and left the room, closing the door behind him.


	19. Chapter 19

"Why doesn't she wake up?"

"How should I know?"

"This isn't normal."

"Relax, her heart sounds just fine."

"But then why wont she wake? I'm gonna give her some more."

"Suit yourself, but make it quick we need to meet the others."

Kirya could hear the voices. She was sure she should know who was talking, but the names seemed to escape her everytime she almost had them. She couldn't open her eyes, no matter how hard she tried.  
Something was pressed against her mouth, dripping some liquid. Her body acted automatically and swallowed the blood. She could feel it enter her system and strengthen her immediately. And suddenly she remembered the name; Damon. But she still couldn't move, and couldn't open her eyes. _Damn_!

He moved, and she felt him stroke her hair gently. And then, to her complete surprise, he kissed her on the forehead, before leaving the room.

_Did he just kiss me? Really?_

It was such a gentle act, nothing she would associate with Damon. But even though she wanted to stay awake, her mind started drifting, and then she slept again.

The next time her thoughts surfaced, she heard someone yelling, and something smashing.

She blacked out again, but she was pretty sure it had only been for a few minutes.

Still it was weird how everything was so quiet. She opened her eyes. The room was empty, the door closed. She slowly sat up in the bed. She actually felt good, all things considered. She looked around. She'd never been in here before.

_So this is what Damon's bedroom looks like_.

It was actually kind of cozy in a way. Not very big, the kingsized bed taking up most of the room. On a table by the window was a couple of books, left open, and of course a bottle of scotch. _Eww._

Lining the walls, was shelfs stacked with books and a few small statues. Her stomach started making noises, and she sighed, getting to her feet. She had to face him sooner or later. She stopped short by the mirror.

She was paler than usual and her hair was a tangled mess. But what made her gasp was her neck. A large white scar was now covering her right side of her neck and shoulder. It looked like some wild animal had been chewing at her. She could feel tears sting in the corner of eye as violent pictures started flashing past her eyes in glimpses.

"Fuck," she breathed, as she had to steady herself to against the wall.

It took a while, but finally she got herself under control, and resolutely straightened her blouse so the scar was no longer visible. She quickly run her fingers through her hair, before going for the door. She pushed down on the handle.  
It was locked.

_What the hell?_

She tried opening it again, but still it didn't buckle.  
"Hello? Damon? Yuki? Someone who'd like to get me out of here?"

No one answered.

Seriously, had they just looked her up and left her?  
She tried one more time, yelling louder.

"Come on. I'm awake, and I'm hungry. Would somebody please come get me out of here?"

In the end she had to climb out the window, balancing along the roof until she got to an open window. She climbed into the livingroom, cursing under her breath.

She stopped dead in her tracks.

The room in front of her was trashed. It looked like a hurricane had passed through it. Just a couple of metres from her a body was lying on the floor. Kirya couldn't hold back a small scream, as she ran to the corpse and sunk to her knees. It almost looked like it had been on fire, and it was impossible to recognise any features. A stake stuck out the back.

_Please don't let it be one of them. Please!_

Out loud she yelled.  
"Damon? Yuki? Bjorn?"

A low moan caught her attention and she immediately followed the sound. Behind the flipped over couch, she saw him. It was Yuki, a stake was sticking out from his stomach, pinning him to the floor. She winced at the sight, but dropped to her knees next to him.

"Yuki, can you hear me? What happened?" He groaned and opened his eyes.

"Get it out."

Kirya bit her lip, trying to pull herself together. She placed her hands on the stake, gripping it firmly.  
"Ready?"

He nodded.  
Using as much force as she could gather, she pulled out the stake. He gritted his teeth and groaned in pain. Kirya threw the blodied stake as far away as she could. She checked the wound in his stomach. The bleeding had stopped. Yuki tried to rise, but in the end Kirya had to drag him over to the wall, where he slumped against it, breathing hard.

"Fuck me."

"Will you be okay?"

"I'm not sure. I need blood."  
Kirya jerked backwards.

"Please, love." He weakly tried to reach for her.

"What if you can't stop?"

"I wont hurt you. Damon would kill me." He laughed, but it turned into an agonizing cough, shaking his whole body.  
Kirya hesitated. Terrifying images kept appearing before her eyes. Not again. But this was Yuki.

Resolutely she pulled up her sleeve and offered him her wrist.  
Yuki bit down. It hurt a bit, like it used to with Damon the first times. She clenched her teeth, and endured. She was just about to tell him to stop when he drew back.

"Wow."  
His eyes were closed, and he slowly licked his lips, cleaning the last couple of blood drops. He opened his eyes, and with a well known smirk he looked at her repeating.  
"Wow! No wonder Damon kept you to himself. I mean, that was just... incredible."

"Oh, shut up Yuki." She slapped him on the shoulder. He winced, and she imediately felt bad.  
"Sorry, I..." But then she saw his face. He was holding back laughter, making his whole body shake.

"You bastard." She rose to her feet, not really angry, but tired, and worried as hell.  
"So what happened here? Where are the others?"

Yuki grew instantly serious. "Did Damon ever fill you in on what was going on?"

Kirya shook her head.

"How much have you figured out yourself?"

She thought it through. Of course she'd known the vampires had something going on. She'd recognized their hushed voices and gloomy looks, from her her childhood, when her father was making plans with people to take over a new company. And then there was the things Klaus had said and done.

She cleared her throat.  
"I figured you were planning an overtake or something along those lines. I guess it had to do with Klaus." She shuddered, saying his name out loud. "He was somekind of vampire regent or boss, right?"

Yuki slid his hand through his hair, before answering.  
"You could say that. He's one of the Originals. The first vampire ever."  
He sighed and got to his feet.

"Listen, Kirya. There's no need for you to know the specifics. Only that someone told on us after we killed Klaus. They put the others down with vervain and took them away. Must have thought I was dead."

He fell silent, and Kirya appreciated the pause. Her insides were in turmoil. She didn't know who "they" were, and she doubted she could get much out of Yuki. She would try, though. She was pretty sure the penalty for killing an Original was pretty bad. And even though it in the end had been Ben staking him, Damon was obviously the leader.

"What happened to Ben?"

"They took him as well. Probably gonna keep him as a pet or snack." Yuki's words were cold, but Kirya could see the pain in his eyes.  
Kirya tried to organize all the new knowledge and focus.

"So... Do you know where they are?" He nodded. "So it's actually pretty simple: We go there, and find a way to bust them out."

But Yuki shook his head.  
"Don't you understand girl? There is no 'we'. I will do what need's to be done. You on the other hand will stay away, and live your life."

His tone was harsh, and matter-of-factly.

"What? They're my friends too! This is my life. You have no right to make descisions for me."  
She was furious. Who did he think he was? No one was gonna tell her what to do or not to do.

She nearly screamed when he grapped her by the arm.

"Let go of me, Yuki."

"No." He was close. Way to close. He caught her eyes with his, and she saw his pupils dialate. She felt the fear run through her._ No_. But it was too late.

"Look at me." And suddenly she couldn't remove her gaze from his.

"Please Yuki," she stammered. But he ignored her completely.

"Keep silent. You will do exactly what I tell you to. You will forget everything about vampires, and along that everything that happened these past months. You will go on with your life, and try to make the best of it."

* * *

They left the appartment. Kirya shot the guy next to her curious glances. She felt a bit dizzy, and couldn't quite figure out who he was. He took her to a small convenience store were she'd never been before. Two elderly people stood behind the counter, they were talking but looked up when they entered.

The guy next to her went directly over to them, and Kirya followed along.

"How can we help you?" the woman asked.

"Look at me. This is your niece... Alice." Kirya was about to protest that her name wasn't Alice, but Kirya, but he just talked on.  
"You love her like she was your daughter, and you will take care of her, and provide anything she needs."

Then he quickly spun to face Kirya, cupping her face in both of his hands.

"Your name is Alice, and you will follow your dreams, live your life and forget you ever saw me."

He left the room, and Alice immediately forgot he had been there. She hugged her uncle and aunt, and they closed the store early, to go home and celebrate the fact that their beloved niece would stay with them from now on...

* * *

**This is not the end, but the story will take a different direction now. I'll need to plot it out, so it might be a bit before the next update. Thank you for all your kind reviews, they help me write on.  
**

**Please let me know what you think of the story untill now. All kinds of critisism is welcom :-)  
If you have ideas for the future story you can always write me, and I will gladly see if it will fit with my idea...  
**

**Goodbye for now :-)  
**


	20. Chapter 20: part 2: A new world

**Thank you for all the fav's, follow****'s and especially reviews. Some time has passed, and a lot has happened in the world, between last chapter and this one. I hope you'll like Alice and the "new" story from now on. All kinds of inputs and feedback is more than welcome.  
**

**To lenna and Anon (guest reviewers): I don't know if I can answer directly to your reviews anywhere, so I'll just do it here...  
**

**Lenna: I hope this turn will work for you, even though you are skeptic. Personally I think vervain would have been a bit too easy ;-) And the story was a bit boring to write, so I chose to make it work with this idea I've had for some time. Please tell me what you think...  
**

**Anon: Thank you very much. This is only a short chapter, but I'll see if I can't squeeze another one out tonight :-D  
**

**Enjoy!  
**

* * *

It came as a shock to humanity, when vampires stepped forward and revealed their true nature. Alice could clearly remember how aunt Maggie had called out for her and her uncle to come watch the news.

After a couple of years, society had learned to deal with it, bloodbars on every corner, and an opportunity for humans to earn easy money by letting them self become blood donors. You just had to go to one of the donor centrals, get some of your blood tapped, and you would walk away richer.

When it happened Alice had just graduated law school as a civil-rights attorney. She felt a weird draw towards the vampires, and she jumped at the new opportunity to make a career of vampire cases, of which there were plenty.

* * *

Alice sighed and leaned back in her chair. At 27 she was tall and slender, and she wore her jet black hair as always, cropped to her shoulders. She had switched her glasses for lenses, which made her deep blue eyes seem even more intense.

The desk in front of her was piled with case papers.  
Those Salvatores really knew how to get themselves into trouble. Well the oldest did, anyway. She couldn't even count how many times she'd gotten him through some loophole in the new vampire laws. He'd killed, compelled, and destroyed almost without pause for the two years she'd been handling the Salvatores.  
They were some kind of elite in the vampire society, and from what Alice had gathered the Salvatores had been one of the main players in the Revelation.

Just the thought of Damon Salvatore sent shivers down her spine. He always seemed so intense, and the way he looked at her made her uneasy. She was glad that he was always accompanied by his younger brother Stefan, who seemed to be the one running things.

Alice stretched and got to her feet. She would finish off the rest of her things tomorrow. She had promised Lori to attend the fundraiser she was throwing tonight.

As Alice waved goodbye to the clerk at the front desk, before heading home to change, she didn't notice the shadow that was following her.

She walked down the street, absorbed in her thoughts. She didn't look forward to the fundraiser. Lori would probably be stressed out as usual, and Katja would be impossible to be around as soon as she noticed that yet again Alice had failed to bring a date.  
absent-mindedly she cut across the street, and walked down the alley that led to her flat.

She was halfway there when she noticed the shadow behind her. She picked up her pace, trying to seem casual about it. Faking a glance at her watch.

_Shit._

She almost made it. But just before she reached the door, a hand grabbed her by the arm. She whirled around, her pepper spray, spiked with vervain, raised. But she didn't get to press it. He was too fast, pinning her against the wall, gripping her by the wrists.

As she hit the wall, she had all air pressed out of her, and she gasped to regain her breath.  
The vampire in front of her was tall and a wild mane of black hair surrounded his head, but his looks were completely ruined by his face. Dark strains spread from his eyes and he bared his fangs. A pang of recognition ran through her, only to disappear immediately. She was about to scream, but her voice got stuck when he bit down on her neck. The spray dropped from her hand and clattered to the ground, rolling out of view.

The pain was excruciating. Burning white-hot throughout her whole body.

Just as Alice was sure she was gonna die, the vampire finally stopped. He took a step back letting her go, and she slumped down on the pavement in a heap.  
Slowly the lines around his eyes disappeared and he looked down at her with hazel eyes. Again she felt like she should know this guy, but the name kept escaping her.  
He smiled.

"Mmmh... Tasty, just like I remembered. You really are something, love."

Alice struggled against the blackness that threatened to fill her vision. But she still managed to snap back at him.  
"Screw you!"

He just laughed, "You haven't changed that much, I see."

Still laughing he turned away from her.

"Untill next time then... Alice..."

And then he was gone.


	21. Chapter 21

One of the first questions raised when vampires revealed themselves was: How do you procreate?

The answer had been simple; One bite and you're a vampire withing 24 hours.

That fact had helped out Alice in many cases. It was often seen that people would try to frame vampires for attacking them. Alice had always thought them idiots. It was so easy to call their lies; when they kept human after a day, it was obviously not a vampire bite.

The rumor said that the only antidote to a bite, was vampire blood, which of course was not easy to get by, but then again apparently vampires were pretty good at sticking to the legal kind of feeding from bloodbags.

Alice was half running half stumbling down the streets. She felt dizzy, and had a hard time focusing. People looked at her weirdly. She just kept going. She had to stop the transition. She had to! And there was only on place she could go. She stopped abruptly, when she almost went past her destination.

It was a small club. A sign on the door said: Vampires only. Above the door the name of the club was written in bold letters: Ric's corner.

She pushed the door open. This was supposed to the Salvatores favorite place. She just hoped they would be here, and would be ready to do her a favor.

It was dark inside, and it took a long moment for her to regain her sight. When she did, her view was filled by a massive body. She looked up at the man. He had to be at least 6,5" tall.

"This is vampires only, little lady. You need to leave."

She just shook her head, trying to regain her speech. Finally she succeeded to press out some words.  
"I need to see the Salvatores."

"I'm sorry missy, as I said before, humans are not welcome here."

She was about to put up a fight, when a voice spoke up from inside the room.

"It's okay, let miss Black in."

She recognized Stefan Salvatore's voice, and exhaled in relief. She brushed past the guy, and quickly found Stefan sitting by a table in the middle of the room with three other vampires, among them his brother.  
She tried to get a grip on herself. These were her clients, and it would not do for her to show how shaken she was.

She straightened and walked over to the table. Everyone except Damon had their attention on her.

One vampire watching you can be quite unnerving. A whole room on the other hand, Alice thought, that must be the best way to force on a panic attack.

She nodded to everyone, but spoke directly to Stefan.

"Mr. Salvatore, thank you so much for meeting me." She didn't know how to continue, and fell silent for a moment.

Stefan just looked at her, waiting for her to spill it. She took in a deep breath, before rushing into it. With a low voice she rambled:  
"I was bitten. I need your blood."

It came out all wrong.  
When you deal with vampires, you need to keep your emotions in check, and serve the proposal with just the right amount of arrogance and humility to spark their interest. And when you've got that, you have to negotiate the best you've ever learned to wind up with a deal.

As the words had left her lips, she realized she should have asked to talk to him alone. It seemed like every person in the room tensed. Even if he ever would have considered letting her drink his blood, that chance was totally lost.

"I think you need to leave, Miss Black." His voice was cold and he had averted his gaze to his drink.

But she couldn't just leave. Her heart raced, she just couldn't turn into a vampire. She firmly held her ground.

"I'm sorry if I offended you Mr. Salvatore, and I am of course willing to make a very attractive deal with you."

"That has no interest for me."

She was desperate, she looked around trying to somehow think of something she could say, something she could do! Damon had ignored the conversation untill now, but suddenly she felt his intense gaze on her.

She turned around to leave, when he broke the threatening silence.

"You can alway have a drink of me, Alice." His voice was like velvet and made her stop dead in her tracks, before turning around slowly facing him. He had an amused smirk playing on the corner of his mouth, and a provoking glint in his eyes. Stefan hissed at him.

"Stop it Damon."

But Damon ignored him and motioned for Alice to come closer. She did so hesitantly. Was he really serious? Or would he just laugh at her or maybe even drain her even before she could turn? No he wouldn't do that. She had learned that one thing that Damon loved was to piss off his brother, and everyone else, both human and vampires. This was obviously one of those stunts she so often got him out of.  
But she didn't care. Didn't even mind that she would be indebted to one of the most deadly vampires in town. She stopped in front of him, not really knowing what to do next.

"Sit." He patted his lap patronizing. "I wont bite."

She did as he told her trying to ignore the hisses that escaped several of the vampires. She felt awkward sitting there on his lap, in front of everyone.  
He took a drink from the glass of scotch, before tipping his head, obviously wanting her to bite him in the neck. She could feel her courage begin to falter.

"Come on, use them sharp human teeth." He was mocking her.

_Fuck this._

She leaned against his chest and let her lips touch his skin. He was cold, but not unpleasantly so.  
She bit down.  
It was not as hard as she'd suspected. She could feel him tense slightly against her, as she penetrated his skin.

_This is so weird!_

As the first drops entered her mouth, she could almost immediately feel how her head started to clear. And it didn't even taste bad. Nothing like she would have thought at least.

She didn't know how much to take. After some ten seconds she pulled away from him. He rose his glass in a mocking salute.

"Cheers, babe."

She rose. Her body suddenly bursting with energy. She licked her lips awkwardly, clearing of the remains of his blood.

"Thank you, Mr. Salvatore. I am in your debt." He nodded, looking slightly bored. She started to say something else but stopped, when she noticed the angry tension in the room. She just turned around and hurried to the door, not casting another look behind her.

Outside she stood for a moment, just enjoying the feel of the sun on her face. She had a sudden urge to laugh and dance. She was alive! And she would stay alive! She repressed it though, since there was a whole bar full of angry vampires only few meters from her. Instead she started walking down the street.

She hadn't gone far when she was suddenly thrown up against the wall, for the second time that day.

His fangs were bared in a growl so close to her that she couldn't help but whimper with fear. His normally crystal blue eyes had turned to an almost black shade. He watched, almost willing her to fight him, but she didn't move an inch. She just stared right back.

Then he spoke...

* * *

**So Damon is back. This times the roles are a bit turned around ;-P What do you think? **


	22. Chapter 22

**Sorry about the long wait. I've been busy on other projects, but since I just saw the last two episodes of TVD I got inspired to write again :-)**

**As you've probably figured out the thing about being bitten and then becoming a vampire, is obviously a lie the vampire society has spread, as to make it easier to prove that they do not feed on people. **

**I'm writing this on my Ipad so there will probably be some typing errors. Sorry about that.**

**Hope you'll enjoy...**

* * *

"So, what should I do with you, huh?" She was frozen to the spot, and just stared right into his black eyes.

"Compel you? Eat you? Turn you?" His eyes slowly turned back to their normal color, and his face eased back. "Maybe take you into service?" The last comment drew an ironic smile to his lips.

Alice finally found her voice again.

"Neither," she whispered, still unable to break eye contact. His brow raised, questionably. "You still need a lawyer," she managed to press out through her unwilling lips. "And I'm the best."

"Ha!" He burst out laughing, shaking his head, and to her surprise he released her from his grip.

She thought she heard him mumble something like: "Still the same." But she wasn't quite sure. Unconsciously she rubbed her palms over the bruises his fingers had left on her arms. He looked at her, with that intense glare that always made her twitch.

He started walking away, and she just stared after him paralysed. After a couple of meters he stopped and looked over his shoulder at her, an annoyed look on his face.

"Well? Pick it up, girl. I haven't got all day."

She shook herself awake. She was freezing up a bit too often.

"I'm sorry I need to be somewhere, and I'm already running late."

"Well, that's easy to solve. I'll give you a ride, while we discuss some things." She hesitated. She really didn't want to be alone with him. He might have just saved her from turning, but she knew that didn't mean she was safe from him.

"Oh, I'll just jump on a bus, you don't need to trouble yourself. I can set up a meeting first thing tomorrow with you and your brother to discuss if there is anything I can do for you to pay my debt." She started walking, hoping and wishing it had worked, and he would just let her go.

Of course she wasn't that lucky.

Faster than lightning he was behind her, his voice dangerously low.

"Keep my brother out of this. Your business is with me, and you'd better keep up, or I'll fucking tear you apart, right here. I don't give a shit who sees."

She could hear he wasn't joking, and a chill ran through her body. But she kept her composure, turning to face him.

"I guess it's settled then. Lead the way."

He eyed her suspiciously a moment before taking off. She almost had to run to keep up with him. She was just about to ask where they were going, when he stopped in front of a sleek sports car. It was a deep marine blue with metallic sparkles in the paint.

Alice couldn't keep back an impressed intake of air. Sure she was used to the vampires' extravagance, but this car was really something. She didn't even want to know the price it had cost.

Reluctantly she slid down into it. The insides were just as thorough as the outside. Leather and aluminium covered all surfaces.

"Nice car."

He looked at her.

"Yeah, Stefan has always had a good taste in cars." Alice felt her face fall, as Damon bowed down and hot-wired the car and sped of from the sidewalk. No way she would ever have a job in this town again.

They sat quiet for some time, while Damon effortlessly weaved in and out in the traffic. Way to fast of course. Alice, however, kept her mouth shut. She still didn't really know what Damon expected of her.

In the end he was the first to break the silence.

"So, where to?"

"Excuse me?"

"You said you needed to get somewhere? Or was that just some lame excuse to get rid of me?"

"Oh." She had completely forgotten, and she blushed slightly. "It's a fundraiser my friend is throwing tonight. I promised to come early to help put up the decorations and stuff. It's down on west avenue."

She involuntary had to grip her seat for support when Damon yanked the car around to head in the right direction.

She felt his eyes on her. He didn't seem to pay any attention to the traffic at all. Alice couldn't help casting a nervous glance out the windshield.

"Now tell me, why do you not want to be a vampire? It would seem to be an obvious future for one such as you."

The question took her by surprise. She looked at him.

"Well, I thought that was obvious?" When he still seemed to want an answer she sighed. "Do you know how many vamp lawyers there is in Chicago?" He shrugged. "Several hundreds. Do you know how many of them are human? Only two." She held up her fingers to support her statement. "I might be a good lawyer in general, but the fact remains that my main force in court, is the fact that I'm human. Isn't it much more likely that a vampire, who is vouched for by a human, must be telling the truth?"

He nodded slowly. "So you never plan to turn? You want to grow old, have babies and die of old age?"

This time it was Alice's time to shrug.

"I don't know. The thought of turning at some point has crossed my mind, but hell, I don't even know if I have any clients left after my stunt today."

He chuckled. "Yeah, Stefan was pretty pissed. But don't you worry, I'll bet he won't throw out the chance of having the best _human_ lawyer in town."

The fell into a comfortable silence, and Alice had to wonder how the hell she's ended up chatting with Damon Salvatore, only minutes after having drunken his blood. The thought made a question popping up in her mind, and before she could give it another thought, it burst out of her.

"Why did you let me drink your blood?" She bit her lip, unsure if she should have kept her mouth shut. "Not that I'm not grateful of course," she quickly added.

For a long time she didn't think he would answer, but then he spoke.

"To piss off Stefan, obviously." He smirked at her, continuing. "I was bored, and having a pretty girl on my lap is never a bad thing."

She didn't know how to respond, and before she had found something sensible to say, the car jerked to a screeching halt. Confused she looked around, before realising they were already here, and only five minutes late. Damon's crazy driving had paid off.

"Well, thank you very much for the ride." She sent him a shaky smile. He just watched as she left the car. As she shut the door she couldn't help sighing with relief.

_That was tense..._

The sound of a car door slamming made her turn around. Damon had left the car to follow her.

"I think I'll accompany you to this fundraiser thing. I don't have anything else to do, and Stefan will be impossible to be around right now."

"What..?" she sputtered.

"Are you deaf?" his tone was mocking, but not angry. "I'll see if this thing is as amusing as many people say they are."

She didn't know what to say. He had obviously decided to come no matter what she said or did.

"I don't know how to present you. I can hardly say that your my vampire client, and it would be ridiculous to tell them you're my boyfriend." She almost laughed at her last words.

"Well, why not?"

"Seriously? It's not a group of people who normally mingle with vampires."

She almost screamed as he grabbed her and pushed her up against the nearest wall.

"If I'm not entirely wrong, to be a boyfriend you have to hold hands, kiss and have sex. That should be easy to accomplish." Before she could react his lips were on hers.

_What the fuck?_

She gasped in surprise, and he took advantage of the chance to slip in his tongue. It was weird, but kind of nice, and she could feel her body react instinctively, returning the kiss. Enjoying the soft feel of his lips and tongue on hers. When he pulled back, she was completely out of breath, and blushing harder than ever. He smirked at her.

Feeling she needed to defend herself she said:

"Some of us have to breathe you know." It just made him chuckle, before he to her surprise grabbed her hand and dragged her along.

"See? The kissing and holding hand is already done, and it wasn't hard either. I think your friends will forgive us if we wait till later with the sex?"

"No way," she burst out, but before she could say anything more they were at the entrance to the building, Katja waiting for them. Alice hoped she hadn't seen Damon kissing her just before.

She straightened a bit, casting a furious glance at the vampire holding her hand. It only made him grin even wider.

She shifted her attention to Katja, and smiled...

* * *

**So I hope you enjoyed!**

**Please tell me what you think, and if you have any ideas as to which way the story should go from now on...  
**

**Untill next time...  
**


	23. Chapter 23

Katja smiled back, but Alice could see she was checking Damon out. Well, she had to admit herself he was hot, but she had never thought of him as her type. She liked optimistic people, not gloomy reckless vampires.

When it became too obvious, and Alice became tired of Damon's annoying smirk, she cleared her throat, bringing Katja back to earth.

"This is Damon. Damon meet Katja."

"Well, well. Alice finally managed to bring along a date. I never thought that would happen." Alice moaned inwardly. What a bitch!

Damon reached out his right hand, never letting go of Alice with his left, and took Katja's hand, kissing it lightly, gentleman style, before letting it go.

"Yeah, we're pretty new as a couple, right Alice?" Damon was acting all charming, and Alice forced what she hoped was a loving smile on her face, while clenching her teeth.

"Well then, I really must warn you," Katja said in a conspiratory voice. "Alice is already seeing someone else..." She let the statement hang for a moment, just enough time for Damon to lift an eyebrow questionably.

"Is that so?"

"Yes... To her job!" She burst out in hysterical laughter, and Alice had to fight the urge to jump Katja and give her a good and proper beating. unconsciously she grabbed tighter around Damon's hand.

She didn't trust her voice, so she just kept silent. Damon on the other hand answered for her.

"Well, I guess that's my luck. Alice has won a great many cases in my favor," he flashed Katja a fanged smile before pulling Alice along.

Katja went a bit pale and only regained her voice when the couple was almost through the hall.

"The wardrobe is on your left," she stammered, her voice at bit

When they entered the wardrobe, Alice started to shake uncontrollable. When the door shot close behind them she erupted in laughter.

"Priceless!" she managed to squeeze the words out in between her laughter. Damon just stood watching her with a semi-amused grin, dancing on his face.

"Seriously! Did you see her face?"

She punched him playfully on the shoulder, for a second forgetting who she was hanging out with. It was a mistake...

He caught her wrist, twisting hard, making her wince in pain. His face became distorted, dark veins erupting from his eyes. He hissed, fangs protruded, and Alice could feel the dread rushing over her.

"Never. Do. That. Again."

Alice gulped, it felt unreal the way the atmosphere in the small room had changed so fast.

"I'm sorry," she stammered.

"You will be, girl. You will be." He loomed over her, and Alice could almost feel her heart jump. He was going to bite her, kill her. She was completely sure. This was just too much for one day.

"Please Damon. I'm really sorry." He lifted his hand and tipped her head to the side. She could feel him stare at the scar. And even through her fear she could feel the shame bloom up. It was ugly, all torn.

Out of pure reflex she lifted her hand and tried to move his hand away. He ignored her touch in the beginning, but then to her surprise, he let her move his hand away. She slowly lifted her gaze to his face. The lines were retreating, and she sighed with relief. A strange look swept over him, but before Alice could put a finger on what it was, it was gone.

She still held his hand. The air was heavy with tension, and Alice didn't dare move or even blink. He was so close, almost pressing every part of his body against hers. His icy blue eyes held her gaze.

"Are you afraid of me?" His voice was a bit hoarse.

She bit her lip, embarrassed, and then slowly gave a tiny nod.

"Good." He hovered for a moment longer. Then he cocked his head, like he was listening to something, before his face suddenly changed from serious to a diabolical grin.

"Your friend is coming to check on us, probably thinking something naughty is going on." He smirked. "It would be a shame to disappoint her, don't you agree?" He didn't wait for Alice to answer before he assaulted her lips.

She caught herself thinking: _This is like a fucking emotional rollercoaster ride_, before she had to give in.

No matter how scared she'd been just seconds before, her body reacted extremely to Damons kisses, and without thinking, she let her arms slide up around his neck. She could feel how he chuckled in response at her eagerness, and regretted it for a moment, but feeling her returned reluctance, Damon just pressed her up against the wall, deepening the kiss.

Again, it was unlike anything she'd ever tried before. She knew it was stupid of her to give in so easily, but it was only a very small part of her right now that objected. She just wanted to be closer to him. She pressed back against him, tip-toeing to get closer to him. She let her fingers run through his dark tousled hair. He groaned, and in response, his hands started to adventure over her body.

Alice didn't know how far she would have let him go, cause in that moment the door was opened. Alice blushing hard as ever, as she tried to untangle herself from Damon, who's only reaction was a return of that annoying yet extremely charming smirk of his.

Katja cleared her throat. "Lori needs you to help with the table decorations."

Alice only had half her attention on the woman in front of her. Damon was snaking his arm around her waist, caressing her with small circles of his thumb.

"Oh yeah, we'll be on our way then," she said, before letting Damon lead her past the woman, who for the second time today stood dumbfounded, left alone.


	24. Chapter 24

Katja smiled back, but Alice could see she was checking Damon out. Well, she had to admit herself he was hot, but she had never thought of him as her type. She liked optimistic people, not gloomy reckless vampires.

When it became too obvious, and Alice became tired of Damon's annoying smirk, she cleared her throat, bringing Katja back to earth.

"This is Damon. Damon meet Katja."

"Well, well. Alice finally managed to bring along a date. I never thought that would happen." Alice moaned inwardly. _Bitch!_

Damon reached out his right hand, never letting go of Alice with his left, and took Katja's hand, kissing it lightly, gentleman style, before letting it go.

"Yeah, we're pretty new as a couple, right Alice?" Damon was acting all charming, and Alice forced what she hoped was a loving smile on her face, while clenching her teeth.

"Well then, I really must warn you," Katja said in a conspiratory voice. "Alice is already seeing someone else..." She let the statement hang for a moment, just enough time for Damon to lift an eyebrow questionably.

"Is that so?"

"Yes... To her job!" She burst out in hysterical laughter, and Alice had to fight the urge to jump Katja and give her a good and proper beating. Unconsciously she grabbed tighter around Damon's hand.

She didn't trust her voice, so she just kept silent. Damon on the other hand answered for her.

"Well, I guess that's my luck. Alice has won a great many cases in my favor," he flashed Katja a fanged smile before pulling Alice along.

Katja went a bit pale and only regained her voice when the couple was almost through the hall.

"The wardrobe is on your left," she stammered, her voice at bit shrill.

When they entered the wardrobe, Alice started to shake uncontrollable. When the door shot close behind them she erupted in laughter.

"Priceless!" she managed to squeeze the words out in between her laughter. Damon just stood watching her with a semi-amused grin, dancing on his face.

"Seriously! Did you see her face?"

She punched him playfully on the shoulder, for a second forgetting who she was hanging out with. It was a mistake...

He caught her wrist, twisting hard, making her wince in pain. His face became distorted, dark veins erupting from his eyes. He hissed, fangs protruded, and Alice could feel the dread rushing over her.

"Never. Do. That. Again."

Alice gulped, it felt unreal the way the atmosphere in the small room had changed so fast.

"I'm sorry," she stammered.

"You will be, girl. You will be." He loomed over her, and Alice could almost feel her heart jump. He was going to bite her, kill her. She was completely sure. This was just too much for one day.

"Please Damon. I'm really sorry." He lifted his hand and tipped her head to the side. She could feel him stare at the scar. And even through her fear she could feel the shame bloom up. It was ugly, all torn.

Out of pure reflex she lifted her hand and tried to move his hand away. He ignored her touch in the beginning, but then to her surprise, he let her move his hand away. She slowly lifted her gaze to his face. The lines were retreating, and she sighed with relief. A strange look swept over him, but before Alice could put a finger on what it was, it was gone.

She still held his hand. The air was heavy with tension, and Alice didn't dare move or even blink. He was so close, almost pressing every part of his body against hers. His icy blue eyes held her gaze.

"Are you afraid of me?" His voice was a bit hoarse.

She bit her lip, embarrassed, and then slowly gave a tiny nod.

"Good." He hovered for a moment longer. Then he cocked his head, like he was listening to something, before his face suddenly changed from serious to a diabolical grin.

"Your friend is coming to check on us, probably thinking something naughty is going on." He smirked. "It would be a shame to disappoint her, don't you agree?" He didn't wait for Alice to answer before he assaulted her lips.

She caught herself thinking: _This is like a fucking emotional rollercoaster ride_, before she had to give in.

No matter how scared she'd been just seconds before, her body reacted extremely to Damon's kisses, and without thinking, she let her arms slide up around his neck. She could feel how he chuckled in response at her eagerness, and regretted it for a moment, but feeling her returned reluctance, Damon just pressed her up against the wall, deepening the kiss.

Again, it was unlike anything she'd ever tried before. She knew it was stupid of her to give in so easily, but it was only a very small part of her right now that objected. She just wanted to be closer to him. She pressed back against him, tip-toeing to get closer to him. She let her fingers run through his dark tousled hair. He groaned, and in response, his hands started to adventure over her body.

Alice didn't know how far she would have let him go, 'cause in that moment the door was opened. Alice blushing hard as ever, as she tried to untangle herself from Damon, who's only reaction was the return of that annoying yet extremely charming smirk of his.

Katja cleared her throat. "Lori needs you to help with the table decorations."

Alice only had half her attention on the woman in front of her. Damon was snaking his arm around her waist, caressing her with small circles of his thumb.

"Oh yeah, we'll be on our way then," she said, before letting Damon lead her past the woman, who for the second time today stood dumbfounded, left alone.

* * *

**So people, what do you think? I'm kinda loosing my interest in this story a bit. I do have an idea as to what should happen from now on, but I just really can't make myself sit down and write on it, since I have so many other ideas on my mind right now.**

**My point is, that I'm considering shutting it down, since I'm also not sure if you all like the new turn of the story.  
**

**I'll be happy to get some inputs whether you think this is total crab or if you would like to read on...  
**


	25. Chapter 25

Alice actually enjoyed the evening, much to her own surprise, and everyone elses. Even though she would never admit it, Damon was pretty good company. He showed a whole new side of himself, that Alice had never seen even as much as a glimpse of, in the years she'd been his lawyer.

He was charming, joking, and apparently unable to keep his hands off her, not caring if anyone saw them. Of course she knew it was just a game to him, but she didn't mind. He was taking her mind off things, which she deeply appreciated. So she played along.

People were curious as to who her handsome new boyfriend was, but she managed to satisfy them with vague explanations, that she knew him from her job.

She left the ladies room, where she'd just been, and tried to locate where he was. When she couldn't see him right away, she started circulating the room, nodding politely to the people she knew.

Suddenly someone grabbed her, and as she was spun around to face his crystal blue eyes, she laughed.

"That was so not the reaction I hoped for," he said, pouting.

"Well, I can't keep jumping like a crazy person every time you touch me. Our cover would be destroyed."

He just shrugged dissapointedly. "You might have a point there. I was heading for the bar, care to join me?" As always, he didn't wait for her answer before dragging her along.

They sat at the counter, waiting for the bartender to see them.

"So, I never thought I would see my tight-ass-lawyer loosen up like this." Damon said jokingly.

"What the..." Alice exclaimed, slightly offended. "It's not like you act yourself either," she retaliated. "Where's your menacing look, huh? You could almost be confused with someone who cared."

"Guess I deserved that," he smirked, before turning to the bartender who finally seemed to have noticed them. "Scotch for me and the lady," he said, before looking him directly in the eye, "on the house of course."

The bartender turned around to get their drinks. The two glasses were placed in front of them, the man smiling.

"On the house of course." When he turned away to the next customers, Alice eyed Damon suspiciously.

"This is a fundraiser, you know?"

"So what?"

"So the profits from the bar benefits homeless people." Her voice had an edge to it. She grabbed her purse to find her wallet. _Cheap ass._

"Hey," he placed a hand on her arm stopping her. She looked at him furiously.

"Don't..." she hissed, trying to snake out under his grip, but he held on tight.

He sighed.

"I forgot, okay?" Alice wondered what he meant by that. Did he know that she'd been living on the streets for years? Or had he forgot it was a fundraiser? She was distracted when Damon turned to the bartender and raised a hand. "Free drinks to everyone, on me! Let's get this party started." People cheered and rushed for the bar.

He turned back to Alice, letting her go. "Better?"

She sat frozen for a long moment, before regaining her speech.

"What was that about?"

"Well, you said it yourself, it's a fundraiser, and since I have the funds..." he trailed off, before suddenly changing subject. "Did you know that Stefan likes to sleep in a coffin?"

Alice almost choked on her drink. "He what!?"

Damon chuckled. "Nah, just kidding. It would fit him though, he's such a brooding guy."

Alice couldn't help but laugh.

Their conversation took a lighter tone after that, and Alice soon forgot about the tensions.

Hours later, and lots and lots of drinks later, Alice found herself being half carried, half dragged out of the room. She heard Damon shuffle through the wardrobe, while she lunged against the wall, unable to keep her balance otherwise.

"Why do we have to leave already?" she pouted. Damon reemerged with her jacket, already wearing his own. He leaned in close.

"Do you really want to know?" His voice was low, and his lips so very close to her, that they sent shivers down her spine. She looked into his eyes and nodded feverntly. He waited a second, just looking into her eyes. Then a mischivious smirk appeared on his face.

"It's because you're such a lightweight."

He burst out laughing, and Alice humphed annoyed. Mumbling "Jackass," under her breath.

"I heard that," he chuckled, before handing over her jacket. Still a bit grumpy, she put it on, following him outside. She shuddered in the chill air, pulling her jacket closer around her. Damon didn't seem to notice the cold, instead he seemed somehow lost in thought, as they started walking down the deserted street.

Alice kept up, the drunken buzz in her brain slowly subsiding a bit to the night air. She couldn't help shooting glances at the vampire walking next to her. He looked like he was somewhere else completely. The question that had been rumaging in her mind kept surfacing, but she didn't really know how to ask. Suddenly he turned his head looking straight at her.

"What is it?"

His sudden words caught her by surprise, and she blushed, quickly diverting her eyes.

"Nothing," she mumbled.

"You've been staring at me for the last 10 minutes."

When she didn't respond he stopped dead in his tracks. She followed suit, but now outside she seemed to have lost the ease of looking at him. It was like they were suddenly back in the real world, where she was just a girl, and he was a vampire.

He lifted his hand, gently touching her hair, before reaching for her chin and forcing her to lift her head.

She bit her lip, and then met his eyes.

"I was just wondering..." she trailed off. He didn't say anything, just waited for her to pick up again.

"Well I just... Why did you do it?"

He frowned a bit. "Do what?"

"You know, safe me, give me your blood, be nice to me." She trailed off.

"Well, as I said before, I like to piss off my brother." But Alice shook her head.

"It's not what I meant..."

"What did you mean then?"

Alice struggled for words, annoyed by herself, before finally letting out an exasperated sigh.

"Never mind..." She turned away starting to walk again.

"Alice." Damon hadn't followed. She stopped but didn't turn around. Suddenly he was right in front of her. _Dammit! Vampire speed_._  
_

He leaned close to her, and she felt her heart miss a beat. When he finally spoke, his voice was so low she had to strain her hearing to make out the words.

"Do you want to know a secret?"

She didn't respond, just tried to control her breathing. He was so fucking close!

* * *

**Sorry about the seriously long wait. I'm terribly sorry, espescially since I received so many fantastic reviews from you guys. Please let me know what you think about this chapter, and I'll try to update really soon...**


	26. Chapter 26

**Here is a quick update for you guys, just to show you how sorry I am for taking such a long break from the story. **

* * *

He was so close.

"I actually had several reasons to help you out earlier, and seriously, annoying my brother really was a priority. Secondly, you have gotten me out of pretty much every lawsuit I've attracted, so I guess it was the least I could do. And, well, having a hot woman on my lap is not the worst thing that could happen." He smirked.

Alice was at a loss of words, and before she had managed to press out an answer, Damon took a step back.

"Oh, and well, if you really had been turning into a vampire, my blood would have done no difference at all."

That last paragraph shook her out of her stupor.

"What?"

"Yeah, I just thought I'd mention that the thing about one bite from a vampire makes you turn? That's just a cover story to make your work and others easier. After all with just the drinks I had off people yesterday, the earth would be washed over with baby vamps in less than a year."

He stood back watching her intently.

Alice's head was a mess. She had been so afraid, and so grateful, and now what? It was all just some kind of lame prank? She couldn't hold back a hysterical laughter, and for a second she would have sweared she saw a worried look cross Damon's features. But it was gone again, replaced by his normal mask of indifference.

"You're not joking, right?"

He shook his head.

"So what you're saying is that I ran into a vamp bar asking to drink their blood for no reason at all? And I got to bite into your fucking neck in front of everyone, purely to annoy your brother?"

When he didn't tell her she was wrong, she just let out an exasperated sigh, shaking her head.

"This has to be the most fucked up day in my fucking life!" She was behaving like a hysterical teenager, she was aware of that. But the alcohol left in her veins just didn't let her use her brains.

She started walking again mumbling under her breath: "I've should had known something was off... What is the chance that vampires actually do exist and magically follows the laws of Twilight, the worst movie of the century?"

At that comment Damon burst out laughing, and she looked at him annoyed. She still hadn't decided if she was angry with him or not for leading her on.

He walked up to her, still chuckling.

"Well at least we didn't come up with something as idiotic as sparkling in the sun."

At that Alice cracked down laughing herself.

"Seriously, fuck twilight! Let's get home."

"Hear, hear."

They walked further down the street. They didn't talk, but it was a comfortable silence. When they reached the car, Alice slumped in the car seat, suddenly completely exhausted.

She must have dozed off, because she slowly came to, as she felt someone lifting her out of the car and carrying her to the door of her apartment. Weirdly enough she felt safe and she had to strain herself not to snuggle closer to him. He hesitated by the door.

"Got a key somewhere?"

"Yeah. Just let me down," she smiled as she said it. "I'm mostly awake."

As he put her down she stumbled a bit, and he steadied her gently.

When she finally got out the key, and found the keyhole, she hesitated before turning around to face Damon.

Surprising both herself and him, she leaned into him. She was only slightly shorter than him, and her lips easily met his. She could feel his surprise, and couldn't help but smile against his lips.

He was quick to retaliate though. He pressed her up against the door placing a hand against the door frame, the other snaking around her waist holding her closer to him.

Alice was lost in the kiss, the feeling of his lean muscular body against hers only made her lose control even faster. She let her hands tangle in his dark hair, forcing him to deepen the kiss. When his lips left her mouth and started trailing down her neck, she couldn't hold back a low moan, leaning her head back against the door for support.

Her breath hitched when his teeth grazed her neck. She could feel her heart racing. Suddenly he drew back from her.

_No way_.

Not willing to stop just yet, she managed to form some coherent words.

"Don't stop. It's okay." To back up her words she tilted her head to the side, making it clear to him what she meant. The movement felt somewhat natural to her, but she didn't think about it further, because at the same time, an almost animalistic growl left his lips.

_Please don't let it hurt_. But she pushed the thought away, somehow she knew it wouldn't.

"Are you sure?" His voice was hoarse, and his words made it tingle in her stomach, she hadn't expected him to be polite. Instead of answering him, she pushed against him placing a heated kiss on his mouth, biting down lightly on his lower lip.

"I think I owe you one," she mumbled.

That did it to Damon. Quicker than lightning he had the door opened, pulled her inside and slapped it shot never letting go of her for a second. He now embraced her from behind. His hand travelled up under her blouse touching the skin on her stomach, sending electric jolts through her.

She leaned into him, as his lips touched the nape of her neck.

Faintly she heard him whisper her name. As his fangs penetrated her skin, she let out a short gasp, and then...

Pure ecstasy...

* * *

**So, I hope you liked it. **

**A lot of people have asked when Alice/Kirya would get her memories back. I can say as much as, it wont be too long... and can anyone guess what name Damon whispered in her ear? ;-)**

**Thanks to **oXxgeorgiaxXo **and my guest reviewer for your kind words :-) **

**I would love to hear from everyone what you think of the story, and I also welcome any ideas for a future plot, I'm not sure if the one I had in mind will work out.**

**Also if anyone reading this by chance is a betareader, please let me know, if you would like to beta this story. English is not my native tongue, and I'm pretty sure there's quite a few errors :-)**

**Again, I live and breathe for constructive criticism, so don't hold back on your reviews :-)**

**See ya soon!**


	27. Chapter 27

**This one is pretty short, but I wanted to make a quick to update. I´ll probably update again tonight :-)**

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Images started swimming in front of her eyes. Memories, forgotten so long ago, forced away, was reappearing. But she couldn´t focus on them. She could only let her self loose in the waves of pure bliss and pleasure.

She faintly was aware of how they both had collapsed in a heap on the floor, but she didn´t care as long as she was close to him.

She didn´t know precisely when he stopped drinking, because the overwhelming feeling stayed, and only faded slowly. She felt a bit dizzy, and some part of her brain told her it was because of blood loss.

She was the first to move. She slowly turned around, untill she laid on her back. She cast a short glance to her right where Damon was mirroring her movements. They caught each others eyes, both piercing blue. A small smile played in the corners of his mouth.

"Wow," he smiled almost boyishly. It looked good on him. She smiled back.

There was so much she had to say to him, to ask him, so many memories that had erupted in her mind. But right now she just wanted to lay down and relax and enjoy the moment.

They lay like that for some time, in comfortable silence.

Then Alice sighed.

"This floor is absolutely not comfortable."

"I think it´s just fine," his voice was nearly inaudible, and he sounded completely relaxed.

"Not as good as my bed though. I do speak from experience. I´ve kinda slept in it for a couple of years."

She could hear him shuffle next to her. Pulling himself up on his elbow.

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, it´s pretty good."

"That´s not what I meant." He sounded a bit more awake now.

Alice rolled closer to him, facing him, as she studied his features.

"No funny business." She tried to sound stern, but wasn´t sure if she succeeded.

He raised his eyebrows, smirking a bit, but when she just held his gaze, he slumped a little.

"Fine. I promise."

"Good."

She was silent for a minute.

"You are allowed to carry me, though." His brows shut up again.

"Someone is pretty confident that the big bad vampire is full."

Alice couldn´t stiffle a yawn.

"Nah, I´m just too tired to care." At that a small chuckle escaped him. She felt his arms wrap around her, and then the swoosh of air, before she was engulfed by the softness of her bed. She let out a content sigh as Damon laid down next to her.

She snuggled into him, hearing him mutter faintly.

"Tease..." She ignored him. Se could feel sleep claiming her, and next to her Damon´s breath also started slowing down. Just before she was fully asleep, he pulled her closer, kissing her hair and whispering: "Goodnight Kirya."

"´Night Damon." And then she lost consciousness.

* * *

**So, it seems that Kirya might be back? Or... I haven´t decided yet precisely what will happen in the morning. Should Damon still be there? Or will he have left? Does Kirya remember everything? And how will she react when her mind isn´t fogged? **

**Hmm... I can´t really make up my mind, so any ideas are more than welcome. **

**It´s morning here in Denmark right now, the sun is shining, but if you really wanna make my day, please review ;-) **


	28. Chapter 28

**The morning after... from Damon's POV. He might seem a bit out of character, but I guess facing Alice ... or Kirya puts him a bit off his game ;-P Hope you'll enjoy... And if you haven't noticed it yet, I kinda live and breathe for reviews... haha.. No pressure on you guys X-D**

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A ray of sun hit him in the face. Annoyed he flipped over, turning his back to the window. Kirya mirrored his motions in sleep, ending up with them spooning. A content sigh escaped her lips, as she pressed herself closer to him.  
It was almost too much for him. _What the fuck am I doing?_

This was nowhere near his usual style, cuddling like some human teenage boy. Well, there was an occasion after all, he thought. He´d never expected to taste her blood again. He had thought he'd come to terms with the fact that she was living her life, without him in it. It was better that way.

He had watched from a distance as she grew into a woman. And he admitted to himself had taken quite some pleasure in getting on her nerves through the last couple of years. Stefan had of course always been in the way.

Absentminded he rubbed small circles with his thumb on her hip.  
He´d missed her, and the night before it had almost felt like the old Kirya had been back. The strong and independent girl who had taken her life into her own hands, and chose to be with him. Wanted to be with him.

He should leave, he realized. In his mind he was already thinking about her as Kirya, the girl he used to know. But in reality the woman next to him was Alice, succesful lawyer moving up in the world.  
There was absolutely no way things could go back to the way they had been in those months.

He sighed, breathing in her scent, savoring it for one last time. Then he slowly started untangling himself from her. He hadn´t cared to undress the night before, so he just stood up let a hand run through his hair.

She seemed so small in the bed all alone.

He couldn´t help but smile a bit. Who would have thought that the infamous Damon Salvatore had spent a night with a girl, without actually sleeping with her? He turned around and zipped, vampire speed, to the door. He turned around to have one last look at her. He was met by her bright blue eyes staring right back at him.

"Going somewhere?"

He leaned nonchalantly against the wall, giving her the most selfconfident smirk he could muster.

"You know, places to be, people to see... and eat." He added the last for good measure.

She sat up groggy, rubbing her eyes. Even with her ruffled morning look, she looked incredibly sexy, and Damon wondered once again why the hell he hadn´t jumped her when he had the chance.

She wasn´t freaking out yet, but he knew it would come.

"Well, shouldn´t you at least have a cup of coffee before you start on your busy day?" She didn´t wait for him to answer before she jumped out of bed and headed for the build-in kitchen in the room.

The apartment was small, he realized. Only one room used as living room, bed room and kitchen all in one. It wasn´t the kind of home he would have thought a well paid lawyer would own.

He just watched her while she quickly started brewing coffee.  
"Do you take it with milk or sugar?" she asked over her shoulder.

He let out a breath walking over, taking a seat by the small table.  
"Neither. Black for me."

She nodded and soon after placed a steaming mug in front of him, before taking a seat herself on the opposite side of the table.

"So, sneaking out..." she mused, lifting an eyebrow. "Seems a little clichéed."

He just shrugged. "It´s a classic. Works every time." Then as a second thought he added. "Except when the hostess wakes up and offers coffee. But I guess that´s just a bonus." He took a deep swig enjoying the way the hot liquid burned his throat and seemed to spread warmth in his body.

She nodded like she understood perfectly. They slipped into comfortable silence.

"Alice..." Damon trailed off, not sure what he had been about to say.

"Huh?" she seemed to have been lost in thought. Then suddenly a smile shot across her face a mischievous glint entered her eyes.

"I think I remember you calling me something completely else yesterday?" she managed to let the statement sound more like a question.

_Shit._  
And for the first time in his unddead life Damon was at a loss of words. He had no idea how to talk himself out of his word slip. Finally he went for the obvious if not very flattering explanation.

"Yeah, about that. I kinda mixed you up with a girl I met the other night."

The freaking out would start in aproximately ten seconds, Damon calculated, putting down his mug.

"That's funny," her face didn't show any emotion. "I don't seem to recall being with you any other nights this week." She hesitated, and then added, seemingly as an after thought. "Of course, now I think of it, you might have compelled me to forget?"

"I don't quite follow you there?"

"Well, since I just seemed to remember last night that I'm both Alice and Kirya, I just find it pretty hard to understand how you could have slept with Kirya any other night than tonight. It's a thing I'm pretty sure I would remember. You know at least have a vague memory of it."

When he didn´t respond, she continued. "And since I've apparently been thoroughly compelled before, it could have happened again."

Damon narrowed his eyes. Had she just said what he thought she had..?  
"Kirya?" it came out almost as a whisper


	29. Chapter 29

Kirya burst out laughing. The look on his face as he struggled to wrap his head around her words was just hilarious. And then his shock when he realized what she was going at.

She took another sip of her coffee, waiting for him to regain his composure.

He did so fast of course.

"So what made you remember?" His voice was totally void of feeling.

"Not anything you said, obviously." Her tone was a bit more harsh than she had intended. She didn´t really hold him responsible for her memory loss. Well, just a little bit, since he could have told her at any point the last three years. Still, he probably had a reason not to, and now with her full memories intact, she realized she had regained her trust in him. He no longer felt like a threat.

"Then what?" He ripped her out of thoughts, obviously wanting a real answer.

"Well, you feeding from me, I guess." She trailed of a moment, before continuing. "You know what it feels like obviously."

He nodded, keeping quiet for a second.

"So, when are you gonna freak out?"

She cocked an eyebrow. "Freak out?"

"Yeah, you seem pretty calm for a person who have just retrieved months worth of memories."

She just shrugged. "I haven't thought all of it through yet. But you know me. I don't like drama, much less freaking out. I just adapt."

A weird look shot across Damon's face. "You really are one of a kind," he mused.

"I like to think so myself," she grinned.

"So should I call you Alice or Kirya now?" He seemed somehow more at ease now, and she wondered if he really had been nervous about her reaction. She doubted it, she was probably just imagining things.

"I don't know. I guess in my head, I'm Kirya now. But I don't think I'm gonna change my name back, though. People know me as Alice, and I've been Alice for a long time now."

He nodded. "'Kirya' in private then." He winked at her. She just shook her head, smiling at his flirting.

"I do have some questions. Like what did happen that night when Yuki..." She trailed off, shock suddenly shooting through her. His beautiful asian features appearing before her eyes. His jet black hair. Black eyes with dark veins protruding. But how? and why?

"Fuck."

Damon looked at her with furrowed brows, but she didn't notice him.

"Fuck!" she repeated a little louder this time. "It was him!"

"Would you please let me in on what the fuck you're rambling about?" His voice had a slight edge to it.

"Yuki."

"Yuki, what?"

Kirya took in a deep breath.

"You do recall that I was bitten yesterday, right?" Without waiting for his answer she continued. "It was far from willing. Some guy followed me on my way back from the office, attacking me in the alley just opposite from here." She shuddered at the thought. "I didn't recognize him then, but now I do. It was Yuki."

Damon had gone stiff in the chair.

"So you're saying that it was Yuki Nakamura who attacked you?" She could see the anger flashing in his eyes.

She clenched her teeth, staring straight back at him defiantly.

"You don't believe me," she stated. She should have seen it coming. Damon and Yuki was close, of course he wouldn't take her word in stride.

She moved to get up from the table, but Damon´s next words made her stop.

"Of course I believe you," he clipped. Talking mostly to himself he added under his breath: "I'm gonna kill that double-crossing bastard."

His last words surprised Kirya, and she slumped back in the chair.

"Damon?" He looked up at her. "I think you need to tell me what happened that night."

He seemed to relax a bit, the anger leaving his body slowly as he watched her. He sighed.

"Yeah I guess you need to know." He was cut off by the sound of his phone going of. He huffed annoyed but answered the call anyway.

"What is it?" he said curtly.

Kirya didn't hear more of the conversation, she just looked on him intently. He didn't seem to have aged a day. She knew that he already back then had been closer to 200 years than the twenty-fivish he had looked, but it still was a bit weird. _I'm older than him now_, she mused. Figuratively speaking of course. It gave a weird pang inside her, that she couldn't quite explain. Some things about him had changed though. Back then he used to be more... she struggled to find a word for it in her head. Serious. He used to take himself more seriously. He had obviously been the leader of their little group. It had always seemed like he was carrying something heavy on his shoulders. A responsibility.

The new Damon who had reentered her life, was carefree, reckless, and seemed not to give a shit about anything or anyone. _Except from yesterday_, a small part of her brain added.

She was yanked from her thoughts when Damon ended the call.

"You'll have to take a rain check on the whole explanation thing." He rose from the chair, emptying the mug.

"Did something happen?"

"Yeah," there seemed to be a small amount of distress hiding in his voice. "A bomb just went of in a building downtown. My brother had an appointment there earlier today, and he´s not picking up his phone. I need to check it out."

"Oh." Kirya stood up as well.

"Do you want me to come along?" He stared at her for so long that she felt a bit weirded out. "You know, in case you need some legal advice... Or a friend?"

He hesitated a second, thinking it over. Then he shrugged. "Why not." He turned and headed for the door, moving for her to follow.

Kirya quickly jumped to the fridge grabbing something, before rushing to the door where Damon impatiently stood waiting.

As she put on a jacket he nodded to the thing she'd taken from the fridge and stuffed in her bag.

"What's that?

When she saw what he was looking at, a blood bag, she felt color rise in her cheeks.

"Umm... Just in case someone is hurt and needs a drink."

As they walked quickly to his car, he asked, "So why do you keep blood in your fridge? Someone I should know about?" He couldn't keep the slight amusement out of his voice.

"It's weird I know. I've just always made certain to have a bloodbag in my apartment in case a client comes by. It was an idea I got when I started up the business. Later on I kinda realized that in my profession, it's not such a good idea to let your clients know where you live."

They both went in to the car, and Damon had almost sped off before Kirya had shut the door behind her.

"You invited me in, though?" He said it like a question, raising a brow, glancing at her through the corner of his eye.

"That was different."

"How so?" "Not that I mind, obviously." He added wrinkling his brows, making her chuckle softly.

"Officially it's your brother who employs me, so he's my client. And besides... You're a friend, and I trust you."

They both fell silent after that.

A couple of minutes later, Kirya could hear the wailing of sirens, and black smoke was rising above the buildings.

She moved uneasily in her seat shooting a glance to her left to see Damon's reaction. His brow was furrowed, his earlier playfulness gone.

He floored it.

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**So what do you think? I hope it makes sense :-)**

**By the way, next chapter should involve a little more action. **

**And of course... Please tell me what you think. Every review helps me to be a better writer, both encouragement and criticism works wonders :-D So don't be shy... That little box below just makes my day.. haha.. **

**Untill next time...**


	30. Chapter 30

As the car screeched to a halt, Kirya took in the scene.

A large crowd had gathered, watching. The police had put up a perimeter, marked by tape a hundred meters from the building. Firetrucks, police cars and ambulances was parked all over, but their personnel didn't seem to really be doing anything.

Kirya narrowed her eyes, as both her and Damon left the car. It was weird how people seemed to stand by passively, as smoke and fire erupted from the crumbled building.

Damon made a direct line towards the perimeter, but Kirya lingered back a moment, getting the attention of one of the ambulance workers. The guy was tall with blonde curly hair, and looked in his mid-twenties.

"What happened here? Why aren't you getting people out?" Her words came out a bit more demanding than she had intended, but after two seconds she didn't regret them as he answered.

"Sorry missy. You need to get back behind that line. There's nothing for you to see here."

"Excuse me?"

"We have everything under con..." Kirya cut him off.

"Control? Really." She let out a short laugh completely void of emotion. "If you have everything under control, then why are there still fires burning, and people probably dead or suffering in there?"

He let out an exasperated sigh, his shoulders slumping.

"We're under orders to stand down untill SWAT arrives. There's no knowing if there are more bombs, which hasn't gone off yet." In the same breath he quickly added, "Please tell me you're not from the press, my boss will have my head."  
Kirya couldn't help but smile a bit. The guy was obviously not such a complete asshole as she'd first thought.

"Don't worry, I'm not, and I won't repeat anything you say. I've got a friend in there."

"No way. Really? It was supposed to be only vampires in there. You sure your friend aren't someplace else?"

She smirked. "He is a vampire. Actually that's his brother right over there." She pointed at Damon, who was having a heated discussion with a police officer. She should probably go there, before he did something even Kirya couldn't get him out off.

The guy stared over at Damon, eyes wide. "Wow."

Kirya was just about to leave, when she remembered. She turned back around. "So, why aren't you guys getting ready? SWAT will probably be here any minute.

He shrugged. "Vampires can't die, so I guess we were just called here by mistake. You know I've seen a video of a guy healing in like a minute from a stab wound. They won't need us."

Kirya was totally taken a back by his words. Seriously, did these people know nothing?

"You need to get blood. Lot's of it."

"What?" It was his turn to look at her in disbelief. Kirya felt like screaming. _Stupid, ignorant_...  
"Okay, I'll make it quick. Yes vampires heal quickly from lesser wounds. But mark my words, those kind of injuries they will have suffered after that kind of explosion," she jagged her thumb in direction of the ruin, "I can promise you, they will need a shit load of blood. But of course, you can just let a bunch of starving vamps loose on the crowd. That way, you'll get them to scatter for sure."

With those words she turned around heading over to Damon. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the medic stand frozen for a long minute, before he rushed off. Hopefully he was going to find his supervisor and spread the word.

Damon was seething. Was that jack-ass officer really thinking he could prevent him from getting to his brother?

"You need to back off Mr. This is your last warning." The guy must be as stupid as he looked.  
"And, I must inform you that I am wearing vervain, so you might as well forget all about your mind tricks."

Damon could feel the rage take over, along with his canines starting to itch. The idiot must have seen it, because he unholstered a weird looking gun aiming it steadily at him.  
Damon was just about to leap, when a voice full of authority broke in.

"And what is going on here?" It took him a moment to decipher the words, and a moment longer to recognize the voice. He snapped his head around.

Kirya was striding confidently up next to him. An aura of authority seemed to surround the girl._ No. Woman_, Damon had to correct himself. There was no girlyness or insecurity in her features, only authority.

Before anyone could say a word, Kirya continued.  
"What is your name?" The words struck like a whiplash.

The officer did seem slightly fazed, but his voice was firm as he answered.  
"Officer Troy Randall, Mam."

"Well Officer Randall, I am Alice Black, head of the law department at The Salvatore Corporation. Right now you need to listen very closely, because the decision you are about to make, will have great importance to your future career and life."

She made a slight pause, letting the suspension build up before continuing. "In front of you is Damon Salvatore - which means that right now you are holding one of the most influential persons in this town at gun point. As Mr. Salvatore's attorney and legal adviser I have to point out that as an enforcer of the law, it is a serious crime to threaten a civilian. Especially when a bystander could question the motives there of. It would seem that personal racial grudges could be the reason for you extreme hostility toward my client."

Officer Randall started to speak indignant, but Kirya impatiently waved him of, as she turned around to face Damon.

"Mr. Salvatore, I will take care of this unfortunate event. There is no reason for you to waste your precious time on this matter." Under her breath she mouthed, almost inaudible: "Go. I'll distract him." She discreetly pointed the way, as she turned back around to the now sweating officer.

She heard the swoosh of air as Damon left, then she put all her attention on the man in front of her.

"Now. Let's talk about how well you know the vampire laws. In this case I will put paragraph 18, section 5, which concerns equal rights between species..."

Kirya smiled on the inside as she verbally tortured the poor officer. On the outside, however, she kept on her poker face. Even when she saw Damon slip into the ruined building out of the corner of her eye, she kept focus.

This was what she was good at...

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**So, Alice/Kirya owns Randall completely ;-) What do you think? I found it a bit hard to write in that legal tone, but I hope it works out anyway. If not please tell me. Paragraph 18, section 5 is by the way purely imaginative XD**

**Any thoughts, suggestions, ideas, criticism or whatever is much appreciated :-) **


	31. Chapter 31

Damon cursed himself for not bringing the bag of blood, Kirya had in her bag. As soon as he'd entered the crumbling building, it hadn't been hard to locate Stefan who was bleeding hard. A jagged piece of metal had penetrated his chest, nailing him to the floor.

It had been easy to get him loose, but now he was too weak to do anything else but lean against the nearest wall, much less get the hell out of the building before it collapsed.

Damon had to think of something, and fast.

"Yo! Stefan." No response.

He knelt down in front of him, snapping his fingers impatiently in his face. Stefan opened his eyes.

"Tell me, was there by any chance any humans in this fucking building?"

Stefan looked a bit surprised at his brother, before answering. "Yeah, a dozen or so."

"Good."

Damon took of at a sprint. He quickly located the sound of a beating heart. He grabbed the woman, yanking her free of the debris, and half dragging, half carrying her back to his brother.

"What are you doing?"

"What's necessary." Damon deadpanned. He spun the girl around who was eying her surroundings dizzily. Without a seconds hesitation he bit down on her exposed neck, before he threw her at Stefan. "Feed."

Stefan instantly burrowed his fangs in the girl, taken over by the hunger. Damon could see how the color slowly returned to his skin, and how the wound in his chest quickly started healing. He let out an involuntary sigh of relief.

"So," Stefan had let go of the girl, and was carefull to lick his lips, erasing any trace of blood. "You need to cover this up, I'm too weak to give her any."

Damon huffed, the relief quickly washing away and being replaced by annoyance. "Whatever." Stefan had grown into an annoying habit of bossing him around.

He bit down on his wrist, and then grabbed the now unconscious woman by the hair, and forced his blood down her throat. After a few seconds her eyes fluttered open and she let out an ear piercing scream.

"Look at me." When she ignored his words, he forced her head around making her meet his glance.

"You hit your head in the explosion. You don't remember anything that happened the last ten minutes."

Both her face and her voice was blank when she repeated his words. "I hit my head and don't remember the last ten minutes." Satisfied he dropped her to the ground.

"Let's get the hell out of here." He started walking for the exit, but stopped when Stefan didn't follow immediately. He was leaning over the woman, talking to her gently.

"Did you hit your head as well? Lets. Get. Out. This whole damn shack is gonna collapse."

Stefan just waved at him, before picking her up and moving to follow Damon. "Relax, he said in a low voice, as he passed Damon. "Just making sure we at least get a bit good publicity out of this shit."

Of course he should have trusted his brother to think of that.

Sometimes he missed the times where Stefan had been less calculating and more saintlike.

Kirya saw them emerge from exit. Stefan was carrying a limp body in his arms. She heard shouts as medics and press saw them and rushed to their sides.

Worried she looked for Damon and felt a wave of relief wash over her as she saw him strolling out of the building with his hands casually in the pockets of his leather jacket. Unconsciously she shook her head. He was effectively evading the commotion by entering the gathering crowd from the side. She took it as a cue, and started to make her way back to his car.

She sat down on the hood of the car waiting for him to return.

It took him a while, and Kirya was just starting to wonder what kept him, when a shadow blocked out the sun. She had leaned back closing her eyes. She opened them.

He was staring at her with a weird look in his eyes.

"It's not polite to stare."

"Yeah, who said I was a polite kind of guy?"

She chuckled softly, getting up. "Duly noted." She stretched, still a bit worn out from yesterday night's party and today's action. She ignored how he was eying her body as she did so.

"Can I hitch a ride back home?"

He got in the car and she did the same. He turned the ignition before answering.

"No."

She looked at him questioningly.

"Care to explain why?"

"Not really."

She sighed exasperated leaning back in the soft car seat. "Whatever." It wasn't like she had planned to do anything today anyway.

* * *

**Hey guys. I'm planning to post a quick update later tonight, so stay tuned :-) More Kirya and Damon bonding time is coming up.**

**By the way, would you like to have some of the other characters from the show in this story? If you do, who should it be? Remember those who are not vampires will be remarkably older. Probably around 20 years older. **


	32. Chapter 32

**Heya guys. SO I am pretty drunk right now, so I'll admit I haven't evenn bothered to read this chapter through after I wrote it. I hope you'll enjoy anyway. Maybe if I'm not to hangovered tomorrow I'll correct all the mistakes there probably are. But, well at least I almost felt as I was drinking with "my" characters. XD The music Ive mentioned are really nice tracks, so if you like rock, try and listen to it... Enjoy...**

**(I wasn't that hangovered, so I'm editing it now :-))**

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They had been driving for a while before Damon seemed to be willing to talk.

"I need a drink." He had seemed to drive around at random, but he pulled over sharply, right in front of what looked like a shabby bar.

"Isn't that a bit earl..." She cut her self off. "No of course not. If my memory serves me, this isn't the earliest I've served you whiskey." She winked at him and jumped out of the car, heading for the bar.

Damon followed, and if you didn't know him you would swear that he looked dumbfounded.

The bar was every bit as dirty and gritty as Kirya had expected, only a few people was there this early on the day.  
She lunged against the bar waiting for Damon who was surprisingly behind her. When he came up, he got the bartender's attention with a wave. The guy looked tired, and had probably been working all night. She eyed her watch. It wasn't even noon yet.

"Bourbon, double up."

"And for the lady?"

Damon looked over at Kirya. _Wow, he's actually letting me decide._  
"An irish coffee for me, double up on whiskey as well." The guy nodded and turned around to fix their drinks.

Kirya felt strangely at ease. She couldn't remember when she had enjoyed someone's company as much as she did right now with Damon. Maybe it was her returned memories, which made her feel nostalgic. But never the less she was glad she hadn't just gone home to be alone.

Damon was amazingly quiet next to her and she found herself staring at him, taking in his appearance. He was staring into the distance, taking small sips of his bourbon occasionally. His tangled dark hair fell into his eyes, but he didn't bother to brush it away. In his battered leather jacket and dark jeans, he looked strikingly handsome. She was pretty sure that he would be able to pull every kind of outfit with style. But she had a hard time to picture it in her mind.

He broke her out of her thoughts, using her earlier words against her.  
"Haven't anyone told you it's not polite to stare?"

She couldn't hold back the color that rose to her face, but she quickly retaliated.  
"Well someone might have told me that I'm not the polite kind of girl." She smirked, and he chuckled softly.

"Ouch, probably should have seen that coming."  
He finished his drink and ordered a new. He looked questionably at her, raising an eyebrow at her cup of irish coffee.  
"Done yet?"

"Yep." She downed the last remains and pushed it across the counter. "I'll have the same as him now." She jabbed her thumb in the direction of Damon.  
"So, any specific reason that you dragged me along?"

He looked at her. "Well, maybe you're not the worst company."

Making a face, Kirya replied: "Well, I guess I'll take that as a compliment."

"So, any specific reason that you chose to go along?"

"You mean, besides the fact that you had sped off before I knew where we were going?"

"Yeah, something like that."

"Well, I guess you're not that bad company your self."

"Then we're on the same page." Damon smiled. It was a genuine smile, that actually reached his eyes, and it made Kirya smile in return.  
"Evviva."

"Cheers."

They both downed their drinks, slamming the glasses down on the counter.  
Kirya could already feel the buzz, but it didn't keep her from getting another drink from the bartender.

"You know what? I'm in the mood for music. Does this place have a jukebox?" The bartender pointed to the farthest corner, and Kirya jumped up.

"You in the mood for some rock'n'roll?" She took a couple of dance steps, shaking her hips, eying him mischievously. "I feel like The Doors. Peace frog."

Damon laughed. "Peace frog it is."

Kirya danced over to the jukebox. Well it wasn't really a jukebox, but a computer wired with spotify, which was lucky, since a normal jukebox probably wouldn't have had the song anyway.

Kirya flipped through the songs untill she found the one, pressing play and the music started blaring out the speakers.  
She moved back to the bar, about to take a seat, when arms wrapped around her lifting her off her feet, whirling her around. She squealed and clung to him, afraid he would drop her.  
When her feet touched the floor again, she didn't let go of him.

"May I have this dance?" His voice was deeply sarcastic, but he didn't let go of her either.  
They danced untill Kirya was completely out of breath.

Before they sat down, Damon dragged her over to the jukebox putting on Midnight Oil with Red Neck Wonderland.

Kirya looked up at him surprised. "I didn't take for a guy with proper taste in music."

"Well, what did you think? And I'll try not to take offence in that statement by the way, or else I would have to rip off your head."

Kirya laughed at his jokingly threat. "Well, I thought you would be like old people. You know diggin' the old classics. Elvis or classical stuff or something like that."

Damon made a gagging noise. "Elvis, seriously? Classical?"

Changing the subject Kirya gulped down another drink. "You know what, we obviously doesn't know each other as well as we should. Let's play a game. I'll ask a question, if you don't want to answer you drink. What d'ya say?"

"Game on."

"Okay, you can go first."

Damon was silent for a moment, clearly pondering what to ask. Kirya couldn't help but smile at his face.

"Okay. What is your favourite color?" he asked solemnly. Kirya tried to keep a straight face, but she failed completely, bursting into a fit of laughter.

"Seriously?"

Damon shrugged.

"Okay. Purple."  
It was her time now, and she tried to think of a good one. Her drunken state didn't help matters though. Finally a good one popped into her brain.

"Past loves? How many?"

He answered promptly. "Two. You?"

"Hey, that's cheating, you can't just reflect the question! You have to give details!"

"No way," he laughed, "you didn't mention those rules when we started. Now answer."

"Okay. Zero. Except if you count the boy I had a crush on in kindergarden. How old are you?"

"Not keeping count anymore, but around 200. My turn." He thought for a minute, ordering a new drink for both of them. "What is your personal opinion on my brother?"

"Off the record?"

He nodded.

"Well, personally I think he has something stuck too far up his ass, that anyone could ever get it out." She burst out in a fit of giggles. She managed to force out her next question. "You? What do you think of your brother?"

"Well, he is my brother, but apart from that, I agree completely with you. Now on to a new game. Truth or dare." He wrinkled his eyebrows daring her to back out.

"I'm game." She didn't know what time it was, but people had started filing in, and it was close to crowded now. "You started the other one, so I'll go first now. Truth or dare?"

"Dare."

"Fine. Order a Long island ice tea, and do a bottoms up."  
With no hesitation Damon did so, and Kirya realized that drinking was probably the easiest thing in the world for him. She wanted to kick herself, for going so easy on him.

"My turn. See that guy over there? Get him to buy you a drink."

She shrugged. "No problem."

She jumped to her feet, only staggering a little. She walked over to him slowly, making sure that he saw the way she moved her hips. It was only half way to the guys benefit. She knew Damon was following her every move with those piercing blue eyes.

"Hi there."

"Hi."

"Having a good time?"

"Yeah. I guess."

"Wanna dance?" She stepped close to him wrapping her arms around his neck, looking him deep in his eyes. "Please?" She gave him her doe eyes, rubbing herself against him. She didn't have to do more, he was hooked.

She danced with him a bit longer than necessary, only drawing slightly back when his hands started to travel a bit to much  
"I'm parched."

"Let me buy you a drink."

"Wow thanks," she said with her most little girl voice she could muster. When she had the drink in her hand, she smiled triumphantly at Damon. "Cheers," she mouthed. He did a mocking salute in return.

"You know what, mmm... Joe?" she had completely forgotten which name he had introduced him self as.

"Jonas,"he corrected.

"Yeah, that's what I meant. I think I see an old friend at the bar so I have to catch up with you later. Okay?"

"Ehmm, okay." He looked slightly disapointed, but Kirya didn't care, she made her way over to Damon triumphantly.

"Well, you took your time."

"And so what? It's my turn now..." But before she had the chance to come up with anything, Damon cut her off.

"I have an idea." He was quiet for so long that Kirya couldn't hold back her curiosity.

"What?" Instead of answering, Damon took her hand and dragged her to he feet. A slow song was playing on the speakers, and she instinctly pressed closer to him, placing her palms on his chest, feeling his muscles under his t-shirt. She noticed the logo was Pearl Jam, so she should have guessed he wasn't into old crappy stuff.

His arms wrapped around her, and the fact that his hands was travelling even farther than Joe's or whatever his name was, didn't faze her a bit. Some girl started to move closer, and Kirya eyed her annoyed.

She got an idea. "Damon," she whispered.

"Mhmm?"

"I have a dare for you."

"Yeah?" he mumbled into her hair.

"See that girl? Why don't you have a drink of her and then send her on her way? She's cramping my space."

"Really?"

She shrugged. "Why not?"

"Well, what do I get in return?" He wrinkled his brows.

"If you do it, I'll grant you a wish, my noble lord," she curtsied.

"How can I say no to such a marveling beauty, my lady. You've got yourself a deal."

* * *

**So, I've corrected my drunken errors and general gibberish X-D **

**I'll try to update later today, but I can't promise anything, since I'm havin' practice with my band. **


	33. Chapter 33

Kirya didn't really know why she had asked Damon to feed on the woman. It was wrong, she knew that, but right now she didn't really give a shit. She was having a blast, and no slutty chick should ruin it.

Damon unwrapped his arms from her, and turned his attention to the girl. She beamed at him, eying Kirya with a look that obviously said "Ha!"

Kirya just smiled back sweetly as Damon started dancing with the blonde.

She found an empty spot by a table close to them. Damon whirled her around so he could watch Kirya over the girl's shoulder. She could see how his face started to distort, his eyes growing black, his veins standing out. He gave her a fanged smile, before burrowing his teeth in the girls exposed neck.

Kirya saw how she tensed before relaxing into his arms. She was probably too drunk to notice anything, or he had her compelled.

Something turned inside her. It felt weird to see him feed on someone else, even though she had been the one to make the suggestion.

Annoyance started to crawl over her. She downed her drink, and enjoyed the burning sensation down her throat. She was so lost in her own thoughts that she didn't notice when someone came standing next to her table.

"You seem a bit lonely, darling." The guy from earlier had come over. She looked up at him, sighing. He slipped down on the seat next to her, casually putting an arm around her shoulders.

"Nah, not really." She stiffened under his touch. "Just waiting for my friend."

"Yeah, he seems busy. But I'm not." At that he leaned in. Kirya managed in the last moment to twist her head a bit to the side, resulting in his mouth crashing down on her cheek instead of her lips. He obviously didn't want to stop there, but Kirya protested, trying to push him back.

"Please stop, I'm waiting for someone."

"Yeah and he's here," Damon said as he grabbed Joe by the collar and ripped him away from her. His voice had taken on a dangerous growl. Joe obviously completely wasted, let out an indignant yell, and whirled around on instinct to punch Damon in the face. He stopped in his tracks however, when he saw Damon's fanged smile. He looked incredibly stupid with his fist hovering in the air, and a mask of terror and confusion on his face.

Kirya couldn't help but laugh.

Damon was angry like hell, but somehow Kirya's laugh always caught him of guard. It was catching, and he couldn't help but smile slyly.

"Now. Piss off!" he said to the guy, who happily did as he was told.

"So," Damon said as he slipped down beside her, he didn't continue.

"Yeah," Kirya said, understanding what he meant without having to hear the words.

After a few minutes silence, Kirya broke the silence. "You full yet?"

He gave her a diabolical smile. "Never. Why?"

"Well, this place has become a bit too crowded for my taste, wanna go outside have some air?"

"What does that have to do with me being full?"

Kirya just smiled playingly and shrugged. "Nothing really, I guess." She stood up, starting to walk casually to the door. Crossing the dance floor, she took a couple of small dance steps in rhythm with the music.

He sat for a moment watching her, thinking how he had had more fun the past to days with her than the past decade. It was weird how she kept surprising him. He would think he finally had her figured out, and then she'd do something completely unexpected.

He sighed, well that was actually part of the allure with her. And he had to admit, it was refreshing having someone around so at ease with his nature. He still couldn't believe she had actually encouraged him to feed on that girl? He shook his head as he got up. Well, he was going along for the ride.

Kirya leaned against the cold brick wall outside the bar. She was drunk. She had only really realized it, when she had walked out of the bar. The chill in the air, was refreshing though.

Next to her the door was opened, and Damon came out, looking around for her. His eyes quickly found her.

"Done drinking yet?" he smirked.

"Nah, the night has just begun, right?" She looked at him, obviously struggling to find words for something. He waited a bit but when she obviously wasn't gonna find the right ones, he huffed impatiently.

"Come on. Spit it out." His words came out a little more harsh than he had intended, but just the smell of her, was making the hunger stir inside him. And, he realized, he was pretty drunk himself.

She almost seemed to shrink under his words, for a second looking exactly like the girl he'd once known.

Clearly uneasy, she looked down. "I was just wondering..." She trailed off.

Damon stepped forward, cupping her face with his hands. "Look at me," he whispered. Biting her lip she looked up into his eyes. She relaxed a bit, but was clearly still not feeling totally at ease. It annoyed him more than it should.

Taking in a deep breath she picked up again. "It's just, you know if you want to..." She trailed her fingers across her neck and collarbone, tipping her head slightly to the side, like he had seen her do so many times before.

It was all he could do to hold back from her right then. "You sure?" He eyed her intently, catching the almost invisible nod. But the thing that convinced him, was the fire in her eyes.

"OOkayy." He was just about to do it, when she grabbed his jacket roughly and dragged him to the side, at bit farther into the shadows.

He growled annoyed, but she just let out a weak laugh. "Can't have anyone watching, I'm not one to making my own job harder than it already is."

Now in the shadows, and in less direct view from the street she let him press her up against the wall, moaning quietly when he bit down, piercing her skin.

It was different from last night. All the sensations was there. But they didn't seem to overwhelm her in the same way. She pressed herself against him, making him growl. She could feel it all through his body. "Don't lose control," she whispered, hardly having enough breath to press out the words.

His feeding slowly turned into kisses up her neck, before he whispered into her ear, causing her to smile. "Never." Then he went down again.

It was weird, Damon thought. Normally having blood as good as Kirya's, he would probably not have been able to control himself, especially with that out of the mind feeling it gave him. But, he realized, what he had told her, was no lie. He had never felt so tuned in with a humans vitals during feeding. Her every heart beat, every pulse through her vein, every ragged breath that escaped her lips was like his own. He didn't think he would ever be able to loose control with a feeling of being so in sync with another being.

When he pulled away from her, she staggered a bit. He steadied her, and she looked up at him with a dazed smile.

"I'm hungry."

An uncontrollable laughter burst out of him, and she tried to look offended, but she was failing miserably, joining in.

When they both caught their breath again, she said. "I really am hungry. Now I think about it I don't think I've eaten anything at all today."

"Well, then we'd better go grab something." He let an arm snake around her shoulders, holding her close to his side. In return she wrapped an arm around his waist.

"Lead the way."

* * *

**Sorry for the wait. I was pretty busy yesterday. What do you think? Like it or not?**

**Please review, it would make me really happy :-) And I can't do anything better if I don't know what's wrong ...**

**Untill next time...**


	34. Chapter 34

Later that night, when Kirya was finally lying in her bed, she couldn't keep her thoughts away from him.

It was funny how it seemed that his personality had flipped, as soon as he had realized she was remembering.

The past couple of years when she knew him as her vampire client, he had been a first rate jackass, and always made her uncomfortable. Even that night where she had regained her memories, she had been scared of him several times. And not without cause. She could tell, that he had meant every threat, that had left his mouth.

Now? Well, she hardly recognized the way he acted from her first months with him either. She pondered a little while staring blankly into the air.

He seemed almost happy, and for her life she couldn't imagine how she, Kirya, could be the reason for that.

Of course they had been close in some fucked up way back then, but still. They had hardly ever had any kind of lengthy conversations. She had trusted him yes. And she believed he had trusted her, at least a little bit, in his own twisted way.

She guessed you could say that they had been living in symbiosis, or something like that. Both dependent on each other, for different reasons.

She wouldn't lie to herself, she had enjoyed her day with him. Not only spending time with him, but also letting him feed on her again. Somehow it felt like something she had missed all these years as Alice. An itch she hadn't been able to scratch, an itch she wasn't even able to locate. Her subconscious yelling at her that she was missing something big.

She sighed, turning over to get more comfortable between the sheets. She needed to sleep. Her brain was still fuzzy, and she was in no state to figure out anything useful. If there even was anything to figure out.

Semi-conscious she set the alarm to wake in the morning. She had to go to work.

The last thought going through her mind, before she fell asleep revolved, not around Damon, but his older brother. _Stefan Salvatore is so not gonna approve of this. Whatever this is..._

Damon had tuned his brother's lecture out. Instead he inspected his nails, stifling a fake yawn, just to annoy him. He had accidentally let slip, that he had been with Kirya most of the day. Big mistake of course. Stefan was a huge hater of vampire-human relationships, and Damon would probably never hear the end of it. Not that he and Kirya was in any kind of relationship anyway.

A thought struck him. Why was his little brother even in his apartment? He voiced the question, causing him to retrieve yet another angry look from Stefan.

"You're not even listening to what I say, are you?"

"Nope. But you still haven't answered my question. What the fuck are you doing in my apartment?"

"I needed to talk to you about something, and you weren't picking up your phone."

"Hmm." Damon was quickly lost in thoughts again, as Stefan immediately picked up on his ramblings.

He would need to have a human owner of this place. That way Stefan would need an invitation to get in, and he sure as hell wasn't gonna get it. Damon couldn't wait to see his face, and had to fight back the need to laugh. Maybe he should talk to Kirya about it. She could move in as well, if she wanted. The place was at least ten times the size of her flat, and he would enjoy the company...

_Wait! What the fuck?_ Damon stiffened. Had he just been thinking about, hell, nearly planning, to have Kirya move in with him? What was wrong with him? Sure they had had a good time together, and yeah, her blood was intoxicating, she had a fabulous laugh and...

He mentally kicked himself. He had to take a step back, and start thinking rationally.

...besides, why would she even want to live with him?

_Argh!_ This was ridiculous! What did he care for some human chick?

He didn't care, he decided. He was just having fun, with his hot lawyer, and annoying his stupid brother at the same time. That was what he had set out to do the other day, when she had come in begging for blood, and that was exactly what he was doing still.

His thoughts were cut short by something Stefan said.

Damon's eyes turned ice cold as the zoned in on Stefan. "What did you just say?" His voice was low, but he didn't doubt that he had heard him.

Stefan, surprised by his brothers sudden attention repeated his words.

"You'll have to compel her, or I could do it, if you have other stuff to do. I have an appointment with her tomorrow anyway."

Faster than lightning, Stefan was pushed off his feet, and pressed brutally against the wall. A framed painting crashing loudly to the floor.

"What the hell!" Stefan struggled against the steel grip that held him, but Damon had just fed, and Stefan was no match for him.

"Do that, and I promise you that you will be dead faster than you can say Salvatore Corporation," he pressed out through clenched teeth.

With that he let go and turned around to retrieve a bottle of bourbon. He changed his mind on the way though, grabbing a red wine instead. Bourbon reminded him too much of Kirya right now.

He didn't even know why he had reacted like he had.

He'd just decided that she meant nothing. He sighed putting the bottle to his lips. He had promised her that he would never compel her, and he would keep that promise, even extend it a bit as to protect her from others compulsion. She _was_ letting him feed on her freely, so he guessed it was a reasonable price to pay. And sure in hell his brother wasn't gonna fuck with her head. Not when he'd just gotten her back.

Stefan was getting back on his feet, a puzzled look on his face. "Damon?"

Damon ignored him.

"Damon, you need to fill me in."

Damon gave him a cold gaze. "I don't need to do anything, brother. You on the other hand need to get the fuck out of my apartment."

Stefan was about to say something more, but Damon cut him off.

"Now."

His shoulders slumped, and he turned around and left.

It gave Damon a certain amount of satisfaction that he still was able to pull the big brother card on him.

The only problem in sending him away was that now he had absolutely no one to distract his mind from Kirya.

_Fuck._

* * *

**_I hope Damon didn't come out to OOC. I'm trying to show how mixed up both Kirya's and Damon's feelings are. None of them know exactly what to but into whatever they are doing. Personally I don't think any one of them is feeling love ("whispering": not yet anyway :-D ), it's more like a mix of nostalgia and physical desire. Both of them lack any kind of intimate closeness and trust with other people, so they find it together. _**

**_And what better way to show it, than to let Damon threaten Stefan, and push him around a bit ;-)_**

**_I'm dying to know what you guys think, and if I managed to pull it off, so please (this never gets old...lol..) REVIEW! _**

**_Over and out ..._**


	35. Chapter 35

Kirya received the call, that the Salvatore meeting had to be a bit earlier than already planned. She took a quick glance at her watch, and moaned as she jumped from the bed. She cracked her toes against the door, as she rushed to the toilet, and swore loudly.

When she was finally ready, both her head and her foot throbbed. After a quick glance in the mirror, she exited the apartment and locked the door behind her.  
She had to hail a cab, instead of walking if she wanted a chance to be there on time. _Fucking Salvatore!_

She hoped only Stefan would be there, she simply wasn't ready to see a probably fully awake and alert Damon, who of course wouldn't even feel slightly hangovered after yesterdays escapades.

The ride was quickly over, and tipping the cab driver generously she jumped out. At a brisk pace she walked over to the large building that held her office. With 70 floors and a somewhat dark exterior, Lake Point Tower, looked slightly intimidating, as it loomed over the nearby streets and the water. It was only a couple of years back, when the vampires came out, that it had been changed from residential, to business.  
She hoped Stefan wasn't here yet, she hated being late, and in the coming conversation she wanted to be on top. If he believed that his little trick with changing the time of the meeting would work, he was in for a surprise.

When she exited the elevator on the fourteenth floor, she quickly looked around, making sure he wasn't there yet, before racing to her office. She waved at the clerk sitting by a desk in the middle of the room. She acted as assistant to all the offices on this floor.

"Hey Maddy."

"Hey Alice. You do know you've got an hour before the meeting with mr. Salvatore, right?"

"Nope, he just called and reschedule to now."

"Wow, I would have thought you guys were over that game years ago."

In her first year as the Salvatore lawyer it had been a common sight to see Kirya in a race through the building to get to her office first. They had constantly changed meeting times, or called in an emergency get together not more than ten minutes in advance.

After some time Kirya had realized what was going on, and after a pointed conversation the "emergencies" had slowly dissolved.

Kirya just shrugged. "I guess he wants to check if I'm loosing my touch," she grinned. As a second thought just before entering her office, she added: "Oh, by the way, would you mind getting me some coffee? And if it's not too much I wouldn't mind if you brought it in when Mr. Salvatore arrives. A comment on a broken machine, where you had to get a technician to come fix it before it would work would be fantastic."

"Oh I see... Of course." Maddy winked conspiratorial before hurrying down the hall.

A little bit more relaxed Kirya entered her office. She would show Stefan Salvatore that he wasn't the only who could play the game. Quickly she grabbed some files and placed them on her desk to make it look like she had been working for some time. That and the "late" coffee should do it. No way he could know that she only jumped out of bed twenty minutes ago.

She had only just taken her seat, and picked up a random document before he walked in.  
Relaxed she put down the document and rose to greet him.

"Good morning, Mr. Salvatore."

"Miss Black," he acknowledged with a curt nod. At that point Maddy came in hurriedly.

"I'm so sorry Alice. The coffee machine wouldn't work. I had to get one from the tech apartment up on 52nd floor and it took at least 30 minutes before he had time to come fix..." She cut herself off, making it look like she only just realized there was someone else in the room. "Oh, sorry. I'll leave now."

With those words she handed Kirya the coffee and waltzed out the room. Kirya could have hugged her, but had to fight even the smile, that threatened to cross her face. I wouldn't do to make Stefan suspicious.

"So, you said something important had come up?" Kirya said and collected herself.

"Yes. Did you hear about the terror attack yesterday?"

"Yes of course. I was there. I hope no one was fatally harmed?"

Stefan looked surprised by her answer. Damon had obviously not told him that. "Three was lost to the final death, sad, but not as bad as it could have been. The medics fortunately had a massive amount of blood ready. The few humans involved also got out, without to much damage."

"Has anyone taken responsibility for the act?"

"Not yet. We do have our own suspects, though. It will be confirmed soon, if our suspicions are right."

"That's good." The conversation was going nowhere Kirya noted. She was not gonna ruin a perfectly good day of hangovers with smalltalk with Stefan Salvatore.  
"So is there anything you want me to do? Or did you have something else you wanted to talk to me about?"

Stefan was silent a moment. When he spoke his words hit like a whip.  
"I'd like you to explain yourself about what happened the other day."

Kirya had to take a deep breath not to yell at him. The way he was talking down to her made her furious. He'd always been keen to do it, and she'd always been good to ignore it, but right now it made her want to choke him. It might have to do with her regained memories, somehow they seemed to have added to her personality.

She clenched her hands into fists under the table, and with a voice laced with ice she responded: "I don't see how that is necessary? It is something between Damon and I, and has absolutely nothing to do with you or the Salvatore Corporation."

She met his eyes steadily, still fighting to keep her temper in check. He was her client after all. That notion flew out the window with his next words.

"Oh, so you let him fuck you too? Huh? You know what? I don't even want to know. I only have one thing to tell you: Stay away from my brother. You have shown good judgement untill now, don't disappoint me."

If he thought, that would be the final words on the matter, he couldn't have been more wrong.  
Kirya felt her insides go cold, and it must have shown in her eyes, because Stefan almost took a step backwards. It was almost funny to see the century old vampire fazed by a small human.

She got to her feet.  
"What Damon and I do are completely up to us. But just to correct your obviously false facts. We did not fuck." She held a short pause to build a little suspension. Then provocatively added. "We got wasted, and I fed him my blood. Oh, and by the way, he told me that vampire bites doesn't turn you. So I guess he can have my blood whenever. When were you gonna tell me that anyway? Huh?"

Stefan took a step closer to her, turning rigid. His voice suddenly turning smug.  
"Alice, Alice, Alice..." He moved faster than lightning, and only when he was back in the same spot dangling a bracelet, her bracelet, in his fingers, she realized what he had done. "Vervain, right? You really should ingest it instead. Much safer. Of course then my brother would have choked on the first sip of you..." As an after thought he added: "And of course it would also prevent me from compelling you right now. Too bad."

Kirya felt her stomach clench, as realisation and fear hit her. _No!_ But before she could escape, his eyes and voice caught her in a steel grip.

"Alice. Look at me." Involuntary she gazed into his eyes. "You will..." His head snapped around, picking up a sound too low for Kirya to hear.

Acting on reflex Kirya grabbed a pencil from the desk behind her and jumped forward. Her action surprised Stefan completely, and she had the small wooden stake buried in his chest before he could do anything. He hissed in pain, and Kirya twisted the pencil, nudging it even deeper.

With her free hand she lifted her fingers up where he could see them.  
"I am this close," the small gap between her fingers indicating precisely how close. "I'm this close to your fucking heart, so you'd better pay attention."

Stefan looked at her viciously, but kept silent.

"No one compels me. No one. You are lucky to be Damon's brother, if I didn't believe he at least cares about you a little bit, I would not hesitate to end you right now."

She stepped back leaving the pencil in his chest, taking in a deep breath trying to shake off some of the adrenaline as Stefan slowly pulled out the wood.  
When he finally spoke his words surprised her.

"Hey Damon." She whipped her head around looking to the door where Damon was watching.

So that was what Stefan had heard when trying to compel her. Kirya didn't know how long he had been standing there, and she had absolutely no idea how he would react to her almost killing his brother.

He caught her gaze and nodded in acknowledgment. "Kirya." Not waiting for a response he changed his attention to his brother, who was straightening his clothes.

"Stefan." His voice turned into a low growl. _I guess he's not mad at me then..._

* * *

**_Haha... Kirya owned Stefan :-D_**


	36. Chapter 36

Stefan's eyes shot to Kirya with surprise. They lingered at her for a moment, before returning to Damon. He seemed completely oblivious to Damon's anger.  
"What did you just call her?"

"What?" Damon sounded furious, and it took him a moment to realize his slip of words.

"You called her Kirya."  
_There goes the plan about staying Alice_, Kirya thought absent-mindedly.

"Whatever."

But Stefan didn't let it go.  
"Is Alice Kirya? _The_ Kirya?" _How the fuck did he know about her?_

Damon stepped closer to him. "Maybe or maybe not... But we need to get something straight here. If you ever try anything like that again, I will not hesitate to rip your fucking heart out. It seems you didn't get the point of our little talk yesterday."

With those words, he jammed his hand through his brothers chest. He leaned in close to Stefan who nearly collapsed in his arms. "Feel it? Huh, little brother, I can end you whenever I want. Remember that."

Kirya shook her head, and made her way past the brothers.

"You guys just take your time with the family chat. I'm working at home today." She waved in their direction before leaving the room, and closing the door behind her.  
She shook her head as she walked past Maddy's desk.  
"See you tomorrow."

"Are you leaving already?" Maddy looked questionably at her. "What about them?" She nodded in the direction of her office.

"Yeah, I decided to work at home today," Kirya answered vaguely. Sometimes Maddy was a bit too nosy for her own good.  
After having successfully evaded more prying questions, Kirya strolled home.

She took her time, enjoying the beautiful weather, and buying a milkshake on the way. She'd always had a weakness for the oversweet beverage.  
She was surprised that Stefan had known her name. Had Damon really talked about her? But then why hadn't he told his brother that their lawyer was indeed the same girl, just under heavy compulsion?

She really needed to talk to him soon. A proper talk, getting her up to date with everything. And then there was Yuki. Sweet, charming Yuki, or at least, that was how she used to think about him. But now? Why had he attacked her?

She shuddered involuntary at the memory, and picked up her pace a bit. She was walking down the exact same alley, where it had happened. When she finally reached her door, she let go of the breath she hadn't been aware she'd been holding.  
She almost laughed at herself, as she locked herself in. She wasn't the type to let herself be spooked.

She had only had time to take of her jacket, when someone knocked on the door. She sighed, if it was another guy trying to sell her something she would scream. There had been an annoying wave of people the past couple of days, who thought she couldn't live without this or that.  
Ready to tell off whoever was at the door, she opened it, and took a surprised step back.

Damon strolled in, carelessly throwing himself on the bed, before she'd even gathered herself enough to close the door.

"Come in, I guess?" She eyed him, only slightly annoyed. He waved at her, lying with his eyes closed on her bed. "You know I actually do have to work?"

He opened an eye and shot her a mischievous grin. "And you can't gather your thoughts while you have a hot guy lying in your bed?" He smirked, when she shot him a death glare.

"Of course I can concentrate, I'm a professional. I'm only curious as to why said hot guy is in my bed?"

Damon opened the other eye. "So you think I'm hot?"

Kirya huffed, and rolled her eyes.  
"Fine. You can stay. But I am working." She turned on her computer, and went over to the kitchen table to fix some coffee.

"I just had to get away from Stefan's pestering. And this was the first place I could think of where he wasn't invited in."

Kirya tried to hide her surprise, she hadn't expected him to explain, much less sound almost apologetic.  
Instead she filled two mugs, pouring milk and sugar in one and leaving the other one black. She turned around smiling.

"Well, you're not that bad company. I guess I can manage the distraction."


	37. Chapter 37

They sat in comfortable silence, the only noise heard was Kirya typing on the keyboard, and Damon occasionally moving a bit to find a better spot on the bed. Once again Kirya was a bit surprised at how good she felt in his company. She shot a quick glance over her shoulder.

He was watching her, but somehow he seemed like he was somewhere else completely. When she looked again a bit later, he hadn't moved yet.

Not stopping her typing she looked at him, unable to hide a small smile tugging at the sides of her mouth.

"You're staring."

"Huh?" He shook his head. "Sorry, guess I just spaced out for a minute." A soft smile of his own crossed his face, and Kirya couldn't help but let out an internal sigh. Damn he was handsome!

It was so seldom that he showed any genuine feelings. Of course he was smoking hot all the time. Even when he went all vampire and shit, he still looked like god. But right now... She didn't have words.

"Would you mind if I put on some music?" he was already on his feet studying her record collection, picking up one.

"No problem." At least he hadn't noticed her moment of... of what ever it had been.

A minute later Comfortably Numb with Pink Floyd started playing softly. Damon went back to the bed laying down again.

Kirya went back to her work, enjoying the soothing music.

She had no idea how long she had been engulfed in her computer when the record ended. She ignored it at first, expecting Damon to stay in charge of the music, but when the clicking noise of the needle going around and around didn't stop, she looked up.

What she saw surprised her more than she would have imagined. Damon lay relaxed on the bed, his arms crossed behind his head, against the bedpost. His eyes were closed, his breathing slow and deep. He seemed utterly relaxed and... asleep?

She rose, and tip-toed over to the record player. She quickly chose Quadrophenia, one of her favourites, and put it on, turning the volume slightly down. She poured herself another cup of coffee before returning to sit by the computer.

She didn't do anything, just sat there, occasionally sipping the warm liquid.

She had to talk to him. This thing they had, whatever it was... She had to find out more. Had to know exactly what had happened.

She remembered that weird effect he'd always had on her. She'd strived to gain his trust. She'd felt safe with him. She'd wanted to please him. She'd also been infuriated by him. No one could make her as angry as he could, or make her feel as small.

She rubbed her face.

All her emotions seemed to have doubled or tripled in strength lately. And all the thoughts made her head pound. The hangover hadn't lost it grip yet.

No more work today, she decided. _If he can sleep, I can take a nap as well. It's not like we haven't shared a bed before. We are supposed to be adults after all._

_And it's daytime, anyway... And stop that pathetic blabber!_

Resolutely she shut down the computer, and walked over to the bed. She laid down next to him, sighing content with the softness.

She couldn't help but look at him, though. Taking him in. She had never seen him asleep before, she realized, and she wasn't really sleepy herself, just a bit worn out.

He was in the same clothes as yesterday. Of course he was one of those guys who's wardrobe apparently had a hundred of outfits in the same style. After hundreds years, you probably knew your own style pretty well. She recognized the print on the t-shirt, though. Had he been up all night? Now wonder he was tired then.

Kirya had never really figured out why vampires had to sleep at all, and the time had never really been right to ask the question.

She grabbed an unused pillow and put it under her head. Damon's eyelids shuddered slightly.

"You want to talk." It was a statement, and he didn't open his eyes while speaking.

"It doesn't have to be right now."

He rolled over on his side untill he faced her, using one of his arms as a pillow, the other laid motionless. His blue eyes was now open and awake.

"It might as well be, unless you've decided you'll be better off not knowing?"

Kirya thought she could hear a slight trace of hope in his last words.

"I need to know."

"thought so." He smiled, but there was no happiness in the gesture. "Ask away."

She was suddenly at a loss of words. All the questions that had filled her head constantly the past days was completely gone. She blabbered out the first thing that entered her brain.

"Why do vampires need to sleep?"

He rose an eyebrow, an amused glint in his eyes.

"That was so not the first question I expected you to ask." She shrugged. She didn't want him to know how much his closeness affected her, and she really was curious.

"We don't really need as much as humans, but I guess it's one of the things that comes along with having a functioning body when you have been dead for decades. As long as we drink blood the body is still up and running, so you need sleep. And hell, I think I would go completely insane if I couldn't take a nap once in a while to get away from the world."

Kirya hadn't thought of it that way. She was silent for a bit. Then she snickered.

"So what you say, is that you fell asleep so you could avoid me?"

Damon huffed, trying to look offended, failing miserably because he burst out laughing.

"Well, even if you're a bit too dutiful for my taste, working at home and all, you are not that bad company."

"Oh thank god," Kirya joked.

"The truth is a bit dull, though. I didn't get any sleep last night, and your bed is surprisingly much nicer than my own, so... I fell asleep."

Faking terror Kirya stage-whispered: "Watch out. You almost sound human!"

"Human, you say?"

In a split second he was on top of her, sitting with a leg on each side of her, holding her wrists in an iron grip. He was carefull not to put too much weight down on her. Just enough to make sure she couldn't wriggle away.

She gasped in surprise.

"Really? Human?"

He leaned down, and she giggled. He let his face turn slightly, his eyes starting to go black.

"Alright. I take it back." She would have held up her hands in mock surrender, if he didn't still have them pinned down. All the spots where his body touched hers seemed on fire, and her heart had picked up its beat.

"That's better." He held still a minute, his eyes still slightly shadowed. As an after thought he added in a soft voice. "Mind if I take a sip?" Her heart leaped in anticipation, and she cursed her body for reacting so extremely.

"Only if you let me go," she tried to bargain.

He smirked. Kirya swore inside her head, he must have picked up on her heart rate. His next words confirmed her theory. He leaned close to her ear and whispered.

"Are you really sure that is what you want?" _Damn vampire hearing!_

steadying her voice she replied sternly. "Yes."

"And what makes you think that I care what you want? You can't stop me." He was teasing her, waiting for her to give a snarky reply. But she didn't. Instead she twisted her head untill she could whisper into his ear.

"I trust you."

"Maybe you shouldn't."

"I guess that's my problem."

For a second an almost angry glare whipped across his face. Then he bit down. He did it harder than he had to, and Kirya couldn't hold back a tiny gasp of surprise. It actually hurt a little as well, but she was mostly taken aback by his sudden temper.

He drank viciously for a couple of seconds, before he pulled back. He didn't let her go immediately. Probably wanting to prove his point.

_Jerk._

Then, as quickly as he had jumped her, he was off her, but he didn't stay in the bed. He lept to the floor.

Kirya pulled herself into a sitting position. What had caused his sudden mood change? It couldn't be that she'd said she trusted him? She would have thought that was obvious, and not something to make him go crazy.

Why the hell else would she let a vampire, that had a reputation of being one of the most ruthless and unreliable in town, into her home?

But apparently it was exactly the thing that bothered him. His next words proved that.

"Don't make this into some little fairytale of yours. It's not. I'm a vampire and I crave your blood. You would be wise to remember that." His voice was cold and harsh. "You can't make me into something I'm not." With those words he flashed out of the door.

Kirya was left alone completely stunned. Change him? _What the fuck!?_

Angrily she jumped to her feet, and stomped over to the still open door.

"Fuck you! If that is what you think I'm doing, then you are the fucking idiot!" she yelled into the street, earning weird glances from a guy walking his dog.

Damon was nowhere to be seen. She slammed the door shut.

She felt an urgent need to hit something. When she couldn't find anything she wouldn't miss if she broke it, she instead kicked her neatly lined shoes into a complete mess.

When she was exhausted she threw herself on the bed. A black leather jacket laid on the floor next to it.

Exasperated she picked it up. It was his of course. She sighed. It smelled like him.

Suddenly unable to keep her eyes open as much as a second longer, she fell asleep, still holding on to the jacket tightly.


	38. Chapter 38

Damon heard her, and swore under his breath. He hated how he seemed to turn into an emotional mess when he was around her. And still he couldn't stay away.

He already doubted his own parting words, and Kirya's angry shout didn't make it any better. He just didn't understand her. He had been with so many human girls in his long life, most of them had declared their love to him. With one of them, he'd even believed that he loved her. But no matter what, sooner or later they would realize the truth: He was a vampire, and nothing they could do or say would change that fact.

That one had tried. Oh had she tried, but in the end she had run off screaming like the rest of them.

And then there was Kirya... She was strong, independent, yet still so vulnerable. She had never talked about love. Not that Damon minded. He cared for the girl, but not in that way. It wasn't that she wasn't attractive, hell, even his idiot of a brother had looked her over twice when he'd first met her.

Damon wouldn't mind having sex with her, in fact he had planned on it, but he saw her more as a friend. Someone he could always count on.

And then she had said that she trusted him. She'd said it in a way that made it completely clear that she meant it. And even if he didn't like to admit it to himself, it had freaked him out.

When he looked back at his past "relationships" the "I love you" had always come first, and then after some time the trust issue started to show its nasty face.

Either the girls would claim that they trusted him, maybe even believe it themselves. Those were the naïve ones. The others would keep on pointing out, how they could never trust him. The result was the same every time. Damon would do something, usually kill someone and they would be gone.

But Kirya had jumped over the first step, hell she'd jumped every step placing her life in his hands on so many occasions that he had lost track. And when she'd finally voiced, what had been so obvious right in front of him, at least the periods where she was Kirya, he had acted like a fucking teenager. She was right. He was a fucking idiot!

He turned around, about to head straight back to her apartment, but stopped in his tracks. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea. With the temper she was showing lately he would probably be lucky if he got to say a word before she came at him with a stake. She would without a doubt cool down soon enough, but untill then he would give her some space.

He chuckled. Damon Salvatore; weary of a human girl.

Already in a better mood he set off to find a bar and a bottle of whiskey.

The sun shone brightly in the afternoon, not a cloud visible in the sky. It was late in september and even though it seemed that the summer would never stop, there was a slight chill in the breeze, that spoke of a soon to come change in the weather. People were bustling in the streets, sitting on the waterfront, relaxing in the parks. From a distance it would seem that they had no care in the world.

That would soon change.

In an old building in the outskirts of Chicago a small group of men was gathered around a large table. Every single window in the room was covered, making it impossible for even the tiniest ray of sun to enter. It also made sure no random passerby's would see what went down in there.

They had all waited patiently for this day. They had slowly put their plan together and made all the preparations. It had been hard, especially since the secrecy was so important. No one could know. No one could even suspect what would be going down.

The men looked at each other.

"It's time," one, their leader, said. He looked around taking his time to watch his accomplices faces, making sure no one had second thoughts. His gaze ended at the latest addition to their group.

He did not like him, and it wasn't only because of his annoying nature, and quick sarcastic remarks, those only made it worse. No, the real reason for the leaders dislike of the new man was that he wasn't a man at all... He was a vampire.

It would probably seem ironic that an anti-vampire group had acquired a vampire member. And in many ways it was. Yuki Nakamura was, however, an essential part of the overall plan.

The vampire threw him a lopsided smile.

"Rock'n roll!"

The leader of the group ignored the remark and pulled out a cellphone. He pressed the number he'd put on speed-dial a long time ago. With the attention of every single individual in the room hanging on him he spoke the words:

"The mission is a go."

Few seconds later a distant rumble began.

Kirya had calmed down. Her two-hour nap, along with the fact that her hangover seemed to have lifted, might have something to do with it. She eyed her clock. 6 pm. _Wow, where did the day go?_

She got out of bed, her stomach growling, demanding her to eat something. A quick look into the fridge told her that tonight had to be takeout. The past days events had made her neglect her grocery shopping.

Not thinking she pulled on the leather jacket she was still holding, picked up her cell, wallet and keys and left the apartment.

The weather was fantastic, and she found herself smiling and nodding at people she passed.

When she reached her favourite diner, she ordered the usual. A big homemade burger with cheese and extra bacon. Her thoughts started to drift to Damon and his outburst earlier.

absent-mindedly she took a bite of the burger, while exiting the diner.

Now she thought of it, she realized that she should have seen it coming. She probably understood Damon better than most, and sure as hell she understood him better, than he understood her.

He'd probably encountered multiple women wanting him to be their personal Prince Charming, wanting him to be or at least act human, something he was definitely not. Afterall he was more than a century old, and looked like a god.

Deep in thought she slowly walked down the street towards her apartment.

He'd probably felt that when she said she trusted him, she had pulled down all those clichés over his head.

It was understandable, but it still hurt a bit to think that he would jump to that assumption. When had she ever said or acted like she wanted to change his actions? wanted to change him?

Something made her look up from the pavement, a tiny flicker of motion to her left. She searched the street with her eyes. A dark silhouette moving quickly away caught her eyes. Hadn't she seen that guy before?

She never found out.

A resounding boom squashed her hearing, just before she was thrown backwards by the blast, when her apartment, 200 meters further down the street, erupted in a ball of fire...

Damon's super hearing heard the first explosion, and even in his drunken state his attention spiked. He was on his feet and out in the streets two seconds later, when the second boom resounded and the third... and the fourth...

As the building next to him was shattered by a massive explosion, he only just managed to throw himself to the ground behind a car, when debris and smoke filled the air. _What the fuck!?_

People screamed. Tires screeched, and cars crashed to a stand still as their drivers tried to avoid the mayhem, mostly without luck.

Damon slowly got to his feet a bit dazed.

A middle-aged man ran past him, screaming: "We're under attack! We're under attack!"

Damon had a hard time concentrating. His senses was overwhelmed. People were bleeding, and there was so much noise. Unconsciously he let a hand run through his hair. His fingers became sticky, and he regained focus enough to realize that his skull probably was fractured from the impact with the concrete, when he had dived for cover. It slowly started healing.

He looked around. The explosions seemed to have stopped, but they had been thorough. As far as he could see large clouds of smoke rose above the crushed buildings all around him. Above him the elevated rails encircling Chicago downtown, called the Loop, missed a gap of tracks. About 20 meters of wrenched iron had landed across the streets, crunching several cars under its heavy weight.

But even in the middle of all this chaos, Damon found his mind starting to focus again. A single name filled his mind... _Kirya..._

* * *

**_So what do you think? I'd really like to have a couple of reviews before I write/post the next chapter. Inputs as to what should happen are more than welcome as well as ideas to how Damon's and Kirya's relationship should evolve...  
Have a nice day (or night)..._**

**_Over and out..._**


	39. Chapter 39

Damon instinctively took off in the direction, of the apartment where he'd spent most of his day. He ignored the screams for help, and angrily pushed his way through the crowd of panicked people.

At first he didn't notice the weird screeching sound, through the general noise, but it quickly turned louder, and louder. It came from above.

A kid Damon had just pushed away from his path, lifted a shaking hand and pointed up. Damon's eyes followed the direction. If he could have turned any paler than his vampire skin already made him, he would have.

A train was rolling towards the huge gap in the rails above them. There was no way it would be able to stop in time.

Around them other people saw the immediate danger, and started running wild. Without thinking Damon scooped up the kid and pressed forward, but the massive crowd made it impossible to move fast enough. They wouldn't be able to make it.

Not wasting time to look up as the train sped into nothing but the thin air, Damon grabbed the small boy in his arms tighter and jumped with all the force he could manage. They flew above the people around them in a wide arch before crashing hard against the wall of a building to the left.  
At the exact same time, the train mowed into the concrete. The ground shook. But it didn't stop. The momentum was to big. The train cars unhatched from each other started tumbling and sliding in all directions crunching everything in their way; bodies, cars, buildings.

"Oh, come on!" Damon moaned. It felt like the world moved in slow-motion as one of the train cars roared towards the spot he had just landed. He shot a glance to the now unconscious child in his arms. The boy reminded him slightly of the kid Yuki had dragged home back in the days.

In that moment Damon decided that the boy would have to survive. A large pile of debris blocked the road to his left, straight ahead was the speeding train car, he had his back against the wall. There was only one way.

Damon darted to the right easily manouvering over the shattered pavement. The train kept coming. He could feel the heat the friction of the massive thing generated, on his back.

A little bit farther down the sidewalk there was an alleyway. If he could just reach it in time. He gathered all his strength for a second leap, but he was too late. The monstrous piece of metal hit him throwing him forward. He felt how his grip on the kid slipped. _No!_

When Kirya came to, she didn't believe her own eyes. The air was heavy with smoke and ashes. She coughed, and weakly pushed herself up on an elbow. Her whole body ached. She closed her eyes for a minute trying to get herself under control. Drawing in a deep breath she winced. Even breathing hurt.

A shrill melody sounded and it took a while before she recognized it as her phone ringing. Suddenly in panic she clumsily searched her pockets. The phone had surprisingly hardly a scratch. Not even checking the caller id she answered the call.  
"Damon?" It couldn't be anyone else.

The other end of the line was silent for a moment, then...  
"So he's not with you?" _What the...?_

Kirya's mind started clearing a bit.  
"Stefan?" On the phone the two brothers sounded almost totally alike, Kirya thought.

A sigh came through the speakers. "Yes."

"What just happened?"

"Terror attack."

"Where's Damon? is he..." Stefan broke her off.

"Miss Black, I don't have time for this. I haven't seen my brother since morning, and his phone goes directly to voicemail." His voice was cold when he continued. "If you see him tell him that he'll find me at the boarding house. He needs to get out of town as well."  
Kirya tried to wrap her mind around the information.

"But what if he's hurt? He left hours ago. We need to find him."

"Feel free to do whatever you like, but if I were you I would get the hell out of wherever you are, and away from this fucking town." Kirya was shocked, Stefan Salvatore never cursed. "Damon is a vampire, and a strong one. I'm gathering that he has fed recently, which make it really unlikely that he's hurt. And you would do well not to be seen in the company of a vampire. If you haven't noticed, that is what this attack is about."

Kirya didn't know what to say to all the information she'd just received. She just sat on the sidewalk with the phone pressed to her ear.

"Don't waste your time trying to reach me on this phone, I'm gonna ditch it soon. If you see him, give him my message." With those words he hung up.

Kirya looked dumbfounded at the display. Biting her lip she quickly found Damon's number in her list of contacts and dialed. Straight to voicemail. _Shit._

She slowly put the phone back into her pocket. She needed to get moving, she realized. With a lot of moaning and wincing she got to her feet. She inspected herself. Her clothes where completely ruined. She was bleeding several places, and her head and right side hurt like a bitch, probably from her fall. Nothing seemed to be broken though.

She didn't linger on herself long, though.  
Where would he have gone? Probably some bar drinking either scotch or some unfortunate guy. She started walking in the direction of downtown. She would try the bar they had hung out in the other day.

The streets were desserted, and Kirya couldn't help but wonder were everyone had gone. How long had she been out for?  
As she closed in on downtown the destruction became worse. It felt almost like a dream, well more like a nightmare, to walk through the streets she knew so well, and hardly be able to recognize them. Wrecked, abandoned cars and debris blocked her way several times, making her progress slow and cumbersome. Bodies started laying on the sidewalk, smashed under crumbled buildings. She checked for vitals on the first couple she encountered, but soon just tried to ignore the twisted remains of people. It was all she could do not to throw up.

The living started appearing as well. Some crying, sitting on the concrete or walking without aim others running panicked. Kirya ignored it all. She just walked, or climbed when it was needed. This was hell.

A few people tried talking to her, asking her for help. If they were insisting enough she explained in few words that she had to find someone, before picking up her pace and leaving them behind. She knew she should try to help, but she felt hollow inside. Actually it was like she wasn't able to feel at all. The only thing that resounded inside her was her need to find him. He had to be okay. When she knew that, she could deal with the rest of the world.

Cold. He felt cold. Damon couldn't remember the last time he'd felt like this. Well, actually he couldn't really feel anything but numbness and the shivering cold. The world seemed silent. It was such a contrast to the roaring hell before. He wondered if this was what the true death felt like.  
Then a weak moan slid through the silence, and with it the sense of smell. He could feel his fangs starting to grow, and the pulsing in his temples which always was how it felt when he was hunting. He opened his eyes, looking around. He could move his head with difficulty, but his body was pinned between crumbled metal and something that seemed like a chair?

It took him a bit to realize where he was. When the train had hit him, he had been pushed forward at first, then it had hit something, probably a wall. Damon had lost consciousness. It seemed that he had been pressed through the windshield by the impact. Small shards of glass was everywhere.

The smell of blood was threatening to overwhelm him. Not more than three feet from him lay a crumbled figure. That was where the blood and the moans originated. Damon knew he was hurt bad, he needed to feed. He needed to feed now!

Desperately he tried to reach out for the person, who was laying so mockingly close. But his arm didn't respond to the signals coming from his brain. When he finally gave up, he was exhausted, another new feeling.  
For the first time he looked down at himself. His body was lying in all kinds of impossible angles. Broken spine... and broken everything else, he realized dazed. That's why I can't move.

The guy kept moaning. It was annoying and deeply frustrating.

"Oh shut up," Damon rasped, his mouth dry. The man didn't seem to hear, he probably couldn't. Even in his own weak state, Damon could see how life was leaving him.

He felt like he'd laid there for hours, but maybe it was only minutes, or merely seconds. Damon didn't know. Then a blinding light appeared to his right. It was only there for a second, before a dark silhouette covered it.

Damon tried to focus. It seemed to become harder and harder. The silhouette came nearer, easily crawling in trough the jumbled mess of jagged metal. Acting purely on reflex Damon snapped at the hand that was reached out toward him.

"Whoa there. I'm not edible." That voice... Where had he heard it before?

The world suddenly came into focus, as something was pressed against his mouth. As he fed from the offered bloodbag, he saw his savior clearly. _What the...?_

"You know I didn't think you were one for public transport? The Damon I knew used to prefer sports cars."

"Still do," Damon croaked as he licked the last drops of blood from his lips. Then, already feeling the blood taking effect in his body, he caught the others dark eyes.

"Long time no see, Yuki."

Yuki smiled. "Right back at ya." Looking him over he added: "Now let us get you the fuck out of here."

* * *

**Soooo... You got a lot of action in this one ;-P What did you think? I hope I didn't write it too jumbled. It's late in the night here in Denmark, but it seems the only time I can get space to write XD  
Thank you for all your reviews. I try my best to update as often as possible, and your encouragement is helping me do that...  
(whispering: only 3 left before I reach 50!? hint*hint*) hehe..**

**As always, I would love to hear your ideas and thoughts, don't be shy...**

**Untill next time...**

**over and out...**


	40. Chapter 40

He wasn't at the bar. He wasn't at the next she tried either, or the next. Kirya realized how terrible little she actually knew about Damon's life. She didn't even know where he lived.

Feeling the fatigue and pain growing in her as the hope of finding Damon slowly dissolved, Kirya let herself slide down on a bench. It had miraculously survived the destruction.

The afternoon had turned into evening, and the sun had disappeared completely behind the now smoking ruins which were Chicago... or used to be Chicago.

Kirya shivered and drew the leather jacket closer around her. The breeze was chilly, and her fingers were already going numb from the cold. For the first time she thought about what she should do, besides finding Damon. Her apartment had blown up, probably her office as well, if Stefan was right in his assumption about the attack being a hate act against vampires and those who associated with them.

The loss of her home and belongings didn't affect her as much as she would have thought. But then she had been homeless for so many years, that she'd somehow always had thought her nice living was only a temporary thing.

Kirya sighed, unconsciously playing with a lock of hair. She had to decide a course of action. As she saw it she had two options; either she had to find someplace to sleep, or she could try to find someone who knew what the hell was going on.

She quickly outruled the sleeping option. It was september, and even though she wouldn't freeze to death, it would not be comfortable to sleep on the streets. Besides it would only be a matter of time before the gangs started to organize.

No, if she wanted to stay relatively warm and safe, she would have to keep moving. The nap she'd had earlier would come in handy now.

She got to her feet. For a second she tried to decide whether she should head for the hospital or the police station. Her bruises and cuts had to be treated before too long, or they would get infected. She might have a concussion as well, if the throbbing pain in her head was an indicator. Still, with all the dead people on the streets, she could easily imagine the state of the nearby hospitals, if it was even still standing.

Police station it was.

She started walking.

The closer she got, the more people started crowding in the streets. She wasn't the only one it seemed who had gotten the idea. Beginning to pay more attention to he surroundings, she started picking up on conversations around her. Many were crying, or wailing about lost or dead people. She filtered those out, they only reminded her too much of Damon.

A thought emerged in her mind, and she nearly laughed out loud, mocking herself. How pathetic was it that the only friend she got, was a vampire whom she'd only really talked with for what... Three days?

Her attention was caught by two men walking right in front of her. Both of them had ragged clothes, ruined by the days events, and looked in their thirties. One had blonde hair, the other one brown. The one with the blonde hair had a makeshift bandage on his leg. He walked with a slight limb. The other one was speaking.

"...must be the worst day ever. They hit the Loop as well. I heard that a couple of trains sped right into the street." He finally got a reaction from the blonde guy, who stopped dead in his tracks.

Kirya bumped straight into one who had spoken first, loosing her balance completely. The guy turned around, and managed to catch her just before she toppled over.

"Sorry," she mumbled.

The guy smiled weakly at her. "No problem." before he turned his attention to his friend who had turned white as a sheet.

"Matt? What's wrong?"

Matt stood with empty eyes shaking his head like he wanted a thought to disappear from his mind. Then he spoke.

"Mia was there with Lucas. Something about picking out a schoolbag..." he trailed off.

Kirya felt sorry for Matt, as his friend helped him to sit down, trying to convince him that his wife and son was probably just fine. Even Kirya could hear how unsure he sounded of his own arguments.

She looked around, it seemed that the crowd had come to a stand still. She could barely move without bumping into someone. She tried to stand on her toes to see what had made people stop, they shouldn't be more than a couple of hundred meters from the police station. She couldn't see a thing.

The friend looked up at her.

"Can you see what's going on?"

She shook her head.

"No there's too many people in the way." Even before she finished the sentence she had an idea.

They were in the side of the street and right next to her was a street sign. It was bended a little, but when she pushed her weight against it, it seemed to be rooted firmly in the concrete still. She looked back at him.

"Can you give me a push? I'll have a better view from up there." He nodded in confirmation and got up. Matt didn't seem to notice.

"Are you sure you'll be able to get up there?" He looked from the sign and to her, clearly doubting her abilities as an acrobat.

"Don't you worry, just hold out your hands so I can jump." She showed him what she meant. "Ready?"

"Go ahead."

Kirya put her foot in his folded hands, counting down, she took a deep breath. When she reached 1, she jumped while the guy gave her a boost. She flew into the air and grabbed hold of the metal sign agile. She hang there dangling for a moment, her feet nearly two meters over the ground. Slowly she pulled herself up until she sat with a leg on each side of the sign.

Everything hurt and she felt like she´d strained several muscles.

_I really need to work out more._ Just five years ago a stunt like that wouldn't even have made her break a sweat.

She gathered her thoughts on the present and looked around. She gasped at how many people had gathered, there was at least 10.000 and more were still gathering further down the street. She looked in the direction of the police station and felt her hopes fall. Only ruins were left. The place had been completely destroyed. She sighed.

Just as quick as she'd gotten up there she let her self slide off her sitting place and holding on to the edge with her fingertips. The she let go, jumping down.

She was happy that he steadied her in her landing, she had miscalculated the distance, and nearly fell.

He looked at her questionly. "So?"

She shook her head. "So if it was the police you were trying to reach you'd better try to find someplace else - the building is gone."

His shoulders hunched as he took in her words.

"You sure?" But from his tone Kirya could tell that he believed her so she just nodded.

"Sorry." She stood for a moment unsure of what to do next.

There was absolutely no point in staying in this crowd. Kirya knew how dangerous it would be if hysteria suddenly broke out with so many people pressed together.

The guy cut in on her thoughts. "We never got ourselves introduced properly. This is Matt, and I'm Kyle. Kyle Tasinki." He reached out his hand and Kirya took it hesitantly.

"I'm Alice." Suddenly recognising the name he had told her, she narrowed her eyes. "You wouldn't by any chance be a lawyer?"

"Why yes." Kirya couldn't hold back a small laugh. He looked at her questionably.

"We're in the same business," Kirya hinted. It took a minute before it dawned on him.

"Alice, as in Alice Black?"

"Yep that's me," she smiled.

It was actually quite funny that the only two human lawyers in town, who specialized in vampire law, had never met.

"I guess that's what you call a coincidence," Kyle said, shaking his head in wonder. He shot a glance down at Matt, who sat staring blankly into the thin air. His brow furrowed in worry.

In the direction of Kirya he said: "Did they hit your place as well?" while carefully helping his friend to his feet.

She nodded, but then realized he didn't look at her. "Yeah, fortunately I was out. Yours too?"

"Yeah, and it was just finished being renovated," he grumbled.

Finally he got Matt to his feet. "Come on man. They're probably fine, and just waiting for you to get back home." The words seemed to cut through to the guy, who's blue eyes suddenly seemed to snap into focus.

Matt started walking hastily, pushing himself through the crowd. Kyle looked at her and rolled his eyes. He started to go after his friend, but turned around when Kirya didn't follow.

"You comin'? You can crash at Matt's place, I'm sure he won't mind."

Kirya hesitated, she didn't know them, hell, she'd just met them. But on the other hand she really needed someplace to rest, and figure out what to do. Kyle might know more about what was going on as well. She shrugged.

"Okay."

"Perfect," Kyle flashed a bright smile already following his friend. Kirya tagged along.

* * *

**I originally meant to but in a section from Damon's POV, but it thought I'd rather update faster and then do it in the next chapter... **

**How do you think he will act around Yuki? Will they pick up their bromance? Or will he hold a grudge at him for attacking Kirya? And what really happened that night several years ago when Yuki compelled Kirya to forget everything? **

**Thank you for your fantastic reviews, your follows and favourites. I've just topped 50 reviews and 40 follows... THANK YOU!**

**Untill next time.../over and out/**


	41. Chapter 41

In the end it took three bloodbags for Damon to gather his strength and get up from the spot where Yuki had dragged him. Yuki had backed off, letting him feed while he spoke with someone on in his cellphone. They were in an alley.

Yuki looked up from the phone, and ended the call when Damon came over. He flashed a broad smile and was about to say something, when Damon's fist hit him straight in the face.

Yuki stumbled backwards.

"What the fuck Damon?!"

Damon's face was void of feeling as he answered: "Don't you ever feed from Kirya again. Do you understand? Or I will end you."

Yuki lifted his hands in surrender, "Whoa, relax man. There's no need to go all caveman on me. And by the way, don't you mean _Alice_?"

Damon growled, taking a threatening step closer to the vampire.

"Alright, I get it. She's off-limits. I wasn't planning on it anyway. Just thought she needed a little reminder of true vampire nature. I didn't compel her just so she could go straight back to mingling with vampires. Hell, that girl is like a trouble magnet."

Damon sighed, a bit of the anger leaving him.

"Yeah, tell me about it..."

Yuki was right, even if he had some seriously fucked ways to get what he wanted. He flashed his trademark smirk at his old friend.

"You know it didn't work, right? She thought she was turning, so she barged into Ric's asking Stef for his blood to reverse the transition."

Yuki's jaw dropped. "She what?"

"Yeah, so much for your plan to get her to back off from vampire business." Damon couldn't help to feel a little smug.

"So did he give it to her?"

Damon made af face. "What do you think? Of course he didn't."

"So she figured out it was a lie?"

"Nope."

Yuki rose his eyebrows questionly.

"Well, she got the blood," Damon said vaguely.

"Oh no, you didn't." Yuki burst out laughing.

"Oh yes. You should have seen Stefan's face when I let her drink straight from the vein in front of the whole bar."

"Holy shit, seriously, I think I would give practically everything to have seen the look on his face!" Clearly imagining Stefan seething, Yuki shook his head, mumbling to himself. "Priceless."

Damon couldn't help but smile. He had missed spending time with Yuki. He might be a sarcastic asshole, but when it came to Stefan, they had always been on the exact same page. The thought reminded him of something else. Quick as a snake he hit the still laughing Yuki. This time he fell on his ass.

"Come on man! What was that for?" Yuki grumbled. He didn't make a move to get to his feet, obviously not interested in attracting more violence.

Damon reached out a hand to help him up, receiving a suspicious glare from the vampire on the ground. "I'm still waiting for an answer."

"Well, you can't get everything you want now, can you? If you figure it out yourself the lesson will stick better."

"Fuck you, Salvatore," Yuki mumbled, but took his hand to get a boost.

Damon ignored his insult. "So, now that we're a bit closer to even, you need to tell me what the fuck happened here."

Yuki turned serious instantly.

"Terrorists. Anti-vampire."

Damon's brows furrowed.

"But then why did they attack downtown? There's just as many humans as vampires, if not more humans."

Yuki shook his head even before Damon had finished.

"They didn't just hit downtown. They are sending a message, and they are some pretty damn thorough bastards." He trailed off.

"What do you mean?" Damon didn't like the way Yuki spoke. "How thorough?"

Yuki looked straight at him.

"Most of Chicago is in ruins. It seems that they planted bombs at every single spot where vampires or humans with connections to vampires live. They don't seem to mind casualties."

It took Damon a bit to wrap his head around the information. He shook his head in wonder.

"But they must know that we wouldn't all die. Hell, the only thing they will accomplish is a bunch of wounded and very hungry fangers starting to hunt for blood."

"Yeah, it doesn't strike as a very good idea, but I already heard from one of my sources that there has been hunters out and about. My guess is that they will use the chaos to openly start a war."

Damon thought about it a bit, but was distracted when something Yuki had said entered his mind.

"Did you say that they bombed everyone who associated with vampires?"

He felt a cold shiver down his spine. He hadn't really thought about her since Yuki had dragged him out of the crashed train, but now the worry seemed to flood him. All he wanted was to rush off and find her.

Yuki nodded, clearly seeing where his mind was going.

"Go check up on her. I'll try and round up some more of us, and find out more about what's going on. There's a place down by the Pier that's still standing, I'll be there with the others untill tomorrow."

Damon stored the information in the back of his mind, and without a word he took off.

In less than five minutes he stood by the smoking ruins of the place that had housed Kirya's apartment. There was hardly anything left, and it was obvious that anyone inside would have died instantly from the blast. _FuckFuckFuck!_ She couldn't be dead.

He tried to listen, using his vampire hearing to try to locate something that would tell him if she was alive and someplace near. Nothing. Only the distinct sound of flames dying out, and rubble settling. The image of Kirya shouting angrily after him earlier today hit him.

"Fuck!" he yelled out in total desperation. He took in a deep breath trying to gather his thoughts. As he did so a faint scent touched his notrils. His head whipped up. In a flash he was two hundred meters farther down the street. He looked closely at the concrete. A few small splotches of rusty red liquid had dried on the rough surface. It was her blood.

She hadn't been in the apartment, he realized with relief. But then why was she bleeding? He took in the small amount of blood. It couldn't be fatal, it was much more likely that she'd been knocked over by the blast.

But where was she now?

**-o-**

Kirya silently followed Matt and Kyle. It took them most of an hour to reach Matt's house. At that point she could hardly stand on her feet. Kyle seemed tired as well, as they crossed the small lawn in front of a red-bricked house. Matt, however, just rushed forward not paying any attention to them or his wounded leg. He pushed the door wide open and called out at the top of his voice: "Mia?! Lucas! Are you here? MIA!"

A shrill childs voice answered him, as a white-haired boy came running directly into his fathers arms. Behind him came a short redhead with almost as much speed. The small family hugged and cried in each others arms.

Kirya was too tired to pay attention to the tearfilled family reunion. She hovered just inside the door, not sure what to do of herself. Kyle touched her shoulder and nodded in the direction of a door that turned out to lead into a cozy livingroom.

Kirya instantly dropped onto a couch, Kyle mirroring her. She couldn't remember the last time a couch had been so comfortable, and she sighed content closing her eyes and leaning her head back against the soft cushions. After a couple of minutes silence, she opened her eyes slightly looking at Kyle. "You were right after all."

"Huh?" He didn't open his eyes.

"They were perfectly safe."

Kyle let out a small laugh. "Yeah, I guess I was." He opened his eyes and sat a bit straighter. "Seriously, I don't know what I would have done if they hadn't been here. I don't think Matt would have been able to handle it, if something had happened to them."

Kirya sighed, but was interrupted in her answer as her cellphone pinged. Feeling her heart leap, she pulled the phone out of her pocket. She was surprised that the network hadn't broken down. She'd always thought it would be the first thing to go when something like this happened.

_Please let it be him. Please._  
It wasn't. Instead it was a text from her aunt Maggie. Kirya could feel the stab of guilt. She hadn't thought og her aunt and uncle at all since the attack. She quickly opened the message. She hoped they were alright.

It was short and to the point.

**Alice are you okay? Tried to call you, but couldn't get through. We are both fine. Call!**

"Is everything alright?" she looked up. She had forgotten completely that she wasn't alone. She smile weakly at him.

"It's my aunt wanting to know if I'm okay."

He nodded understandingly. "Then you'd better call her. We can't be sure how long there'll be reception."

Kirya nodded, and punched in the number. The phone hardly had time to ring before it was answered at the other end of the line.

"Alice! Are you alright?" Her aunts worried voice was shrill through the speakers, and Kirya felt even worse about her forgetfulness.

"I'm fine, auntie. I'm fine."

"Oh thank god. We were so worried. We heard the explosions and..." she trailed off starting to sob. Kirya bit her lower lip. She heard some ruffling and then her aunts voice was replaced by her uncles.

"Alice, thank god you alright. What happened? Where are you?" Kirya sighed.

"My place was hit, but I'm fine. Just a couple of scratches and bruises. Nothing to be worried about."

She could imagine her uncles serious face as he spoke.

"Have you had them checked? Have you been to a hospital?" Uncle Tom had always taken even the smallest scratch very seriously. It had annoyed Kirya to no end when she had lived with them, but now the words warmed her.

"Haven't gotten to it yet, but don't you worry, I promise I'll do it."

"So where are you?"

"I met some people who was kind enough to offer me a place to crash for the night up by Lincoln Wood."

"You should come home. It's too dangerous..." She cut him off.

"It's alright, I can take care of myself. I promise I'll come home to you as soon as possible, but I need to find someone here first, and it's a long walk, so it'll probably take a couple of days."

"But.." he protested.

"Really, I'll be fine. I haven't got my charger for my phone, and I'm not even sure if there's electricity here, so I can't promise to keep in touch the next couple of days, but I will come." Not giving her uncle the chance to try to convince her, she quickly added. "Give auntie a hug from me. I love both of you."

"We love you too, Alice. Come home soon."

"I will. Bye."

She ended the call.

She hoped she would be able to keep her promise.


	42. Chapter 42

**Sorry for the late update guys... I've been pretty busy, and lacked inspiration. I do think it'll flow more easy now, as Damon and Kirya soon will be reunited :-D**

* * *

Kirya awoke early. She couldn't hold back a moan when she shifted her weight on the couch. Her whole body felt like it had been run over by a train. The remains from yesterdays dinner was still on the table. Mia, Matt's wife, had conjured quite a feast, using all the perishables in the fridge, since the power was gone. Everyone had been tired and went straight to bed, leaving the clean-up for later.  
She was still amazed at how friendly and welcoming her newfound friends were.

Slowly she got to her feet, trying to go as easy on her bruised body as possible. Kyle was still asleep on the other couch, snoring lightly. Quietly Kirya took off in search of a bathroom.  
When she had taken care of the necessities, she started to clear the table. While working, her mind swept back to the problem at hand. What should she do? She had absolutely no idea how to find Damon. Hell, she didn't even know if he was still in town. Maybe he had left like Stefan... or maybe he was dead, caught in one of the explosions... She shook her head, trying to push the thought out of her head, but somehow she couldn't let it go. If he was alive wouldn't he have come find her? At least just to check if she was okay? Or called her as a minimum?

She sighed as she cleaned the last dish. _Don't be stupid, Kirya._ She scolded herself. _He is way more important to you, than you are to him. It's time you get it into your stupid brain. He's probably forgotten everything about you already._

_And so what?_ she retorted to her own brain. _He's my friend, and the least I can do is to make sure he's alright, after that he can do whatever he needs to do, and I can go check up on auntie and uncle._  
Which of course led her back to how she was supposed to find him. _I'll give it two days,_ she decided_. I'll do whatever I can to find him, deliver Stefan's message, and then I'll be on my way._

The first thing she needed to do, she realized, was to find out exactly what was happening. There had to be some kind of law enforcement somewhere.

The others were still asleep, and she quickly scribbled a small note to them,

**_Matt, Mia, Lucas and Kyle,_**  
**_Thank you for your kindness and hospitality. I need to find out more about what's going on, and to find my friend. If I find out anything, I'll make sure you are informed._**  
**_Alice._**

As an afterthought she added her phone number on the bottom of the note.

She grabbed her jacket and left the house. The sky was an indifferent gray, and the air held a cold chill. Kirya pulled her jacket closer around her.

Her first stop would be the nearby hospital, maybe someone would have some answers there.

The destruction was not as complete here as it had been downtown. occasionally she had to climb over a wrecked car or some rubble, but most of the houses were untouched.

A few blocks from the hospital she heard a ruckus from one of the alleys. It sounded like someone fighting. The streets were empty, people obviously staying indoors.

Someone yelled out in pain, and Kirya stopped dead in her tracks, peeking down the alley. The shadows concealed whatever was going on. She bit her lip. It would be wisest just to keep walking, ignoring what was obviously not her fight. But she found herself walking silently down the alley, hugging the shadows.

The noise was getting louder, and finally the source came into her view. She stopped and hid behind a corner.

A young man lay on the ground, with two men looming over him. One of them held a long pointed object, and Kirya immediately recognized it. A stake. Without thinking she burst out from her cover.

The hunters were so absorbed in their victim on the ground that they didn't notice her before she crash-tackled the one who held the stake. He let out a surprised yelp, as he went sprawling, the stake flying from his hand.

The speed had caused Kirya to go down as well, but she was on her feet quickly, trying to regain focus. She had used up her element of surprise, and the other hunter was already rushing at her. He was a giant of a man. At least 6 feet tall if not more, and as massive as an oak.

She shot a quick glance at the vampire on the pavement. Blood was seeping from several wounds, and he seemed completely out of it. She would receive no help from that angle. She braced herself for the attack.

As the giant launched himself on her, she quickly ducked to the side. She wasn't fast enough. The fist that had been aimed for her face hit her shoulder instead, making her loose balance. She tumbled to the ground, her wind completely knocked out of her. The giant's smiled as she lay on the pavement gasping for air.

"Now what do we have here? Huh?" Kirya tried to pull away from him, and his smile broadened.  
The guy she had tackled, came over, blood on his face from where it had impacted with the concrete. He looked furious.

"Let me get that little bitch!"  
Kirya could feel rage build in her, as she held eye contact with him.

"Look who's talking. Does that hurt?" she said viciously.

The giant laughed, holding his friend back with his hand. "You're quite the fighter. Sadly you obviously have the wrong allegiances." He slowly started pulling out a nasty looking knife.

Kirya saw something out of the corner of her eye. An old liquor bottle lay only a few feet from her. If she could only reach it. Feigning fear she crawled backwards.

"Not so tough now, huh? Did you think we were only after bloodsuckers? That we would spare you because you're human?"  
He took a step closer. Kirya fumbled desperately behind her, trying to cover her actions with her body.

"Maybe?" She said, wanting him to keep talking. "Or maybe I've got back-up coming."

"Oh really?" He looked around. "They're cutting it a bit close, don't you think?" He said sarcastically.

Behind her Kirya's fingers touched the bottle neck.

"Maybe they know I can handle myself?"

"Hah! Is that what you call this?"  
She shrugged.

"Enough of this," the other one grumbled. "Just finish her off, before the bloodsucker gets about."

They both shot nervous glances at the unconscious vampire.

In that moment Kirya acted, she jumped to her feet, and with all her force she hit the giant in the head with the bottle. Glass splintered, and he fell to the ground like a bag of potatoes. He was out cold. Now using the jagged remains as a weapon, Kirya faced the other hunter.  
Behind him, the vampire groaned and moved slightly.  
Never letting her attention slip from her opponent, she mumbled under her breath so only the vampires sharp hearing would pick it up: "I could use some help here."

"What are you mumbling, bitch?" the hunter sneered.

"Nothing," she answered with a bright smile, just as she leapt forward lashing out with the bottle. She almost got him, almost.

In the last second he managed to dodge her attack, and just as quickly he retaliated. He was obviously a pro. With a quick punch to her elbow, the bottle fell from her grip as her hand went completely numb. She stumbled backwards.

For the first time, Kirya could feel the fear starting to fill her. She had run out of ideas, and her arm now hang limply against her side. There was nowhere to run. He grabbed her by the throat squeezing. She struggled for all she was worth, but his grip was like iron and didn't bulge.

Black dots started flowing in front of her eyes, as the air was cut from her lungs, and the energy seemed to wash out of her body. The only thing that held her upright now, was her killers hands around her neck.

Somewhere far away she heard a scream, and she felt something warm spray across her face.  
Suddenly she was free, and she fell to the ground gasping for air.

_Holy shit, that was close._  
She looked up and saw the vampire standing with the limp body of the hunter. When he saw her looking he let go of the body and walked over. His face was smeared in blood. He kneeled in front of her, studying her curiously. She looked straight back at him.

When he finally broke the silence, his words surprised her.  
"I know you. You're that hot lawyer who works for the Salvatores. Alice...something."

She shrugged.

"I'm Franklin. Thank you for the assistance. Those fuckers jumped me." He smiled, fangs still showing.

She shot him a wry smile. "Anytime. Mind helping me up?" She croaked, her sore throat protesting.

"Oh, yeah... Of course." He reached out a hand, and she grabbed it with her good hand. Her right arm still hung useless from the blow, she just hoped it wasn't broken.

"We should probably hit the road. Those hunters might have backup somewhere close."

He nodded. "You're probably right. I need to get back to the others anyway."

Kirya's head flashed up. "Others?"

"Yeah, a bunch of us are staying down by the pier."

"You haven't by any chance seen Damon Salvatore there?"

Franklin shook his head. "No, sorry, haven't seen him." When he saw her disappointed face he added. "But maybe some of the others know something. People drop in all the time. You can come along if you want?"

Kirya didn't even wait to think it over before she answered.  
"I would like that."  
As a second thought she added coldly. "Maybe you should bring that one along," she nodded in the direction of the hunter she had knocked unconscious earlier. "If there are hunters out and about you guys will need all the intel you can get. And when you're done with him, I'm sure he'll work out just fine as a snack."

Franklin shot her an appraising look. "Remind me never to get on your bad side."

She flashed a grin and winked at him. "You're smarter than you look, Franklin."

"And you're scarier than you look."

She chuckled. "Well, now that's settled, let's move."

Franklin grabbed the unconscious hunter and slung him carelessly across his shoulder, and Kirya followed after him.

_Please let him be there..._


	43. Chapter 43

**Okay, firstly I need to tell all of you how terribly sorry I am for posting this new chapter so late. It was just hard for me to figure out where the plot should go. I think I did pretty good though. And I made it a bit longer to get back into your graces ;-) **

**(Spoiler below!)**

**I just saw the last two episodes of TVD yesterday, and wow, what a finale. I think the best moment was when Klaus came to help everyone out, and told Caroline how Tyler might be her first love, but he intended to be her last... How cute was that?!**

**Anyway, here is my latest addition to 'Black Night'... **

**Enjoy, and feel free to tell me what you think...**

* * *

Damon was furious and hungry, which usually was a very poor cocktail. He did try to contain it though, since the old couple in front of him was important to Kirya.  
The man who had presented himself as Thomas Darren looked questionly at Damon, and he realized he had slipped out of the conversation, his eyes focusing in on the almost invisible pulse beating at the old mans neck.  
"Sorry," he shook his head and let a hand run through his already ruffled black hair. He forced a smile on to his lips. "I guess I'm just a bit tired, Mr. Darren."

"Of course, son. It has been some crazy days for all of us. You mentioned our niece Alice?"

It was funny how weird it already felt to talk about Kirya with the name she'd used the past years. It just didn't feel right.

"Yeah. So have you heard from her?"

The man looked him over one more time before he answered.  
"I'm sorry to disappoint you, but no, I haven't. I really hope she's okay. We are terribly worried."  
The man hid the lie well, but Damon had been around way too long to fall for it. When he'd first mentioned Alice's name her uncle had been surprised, but he had shown no real worry, so either he didn't give a shit about her, which Damon found hard to believe, or he knew she was alright.  
He took a step closer, and smiled dangerously at the man, who seemed to shrink a bit.

"You know Tom, we're both busy men, so maybe you should stop wasting my fucking time!" The sentence ended in an almost animalistic growl.

Kirya's uncle didn't waver though, he just met Damon's eyes squarely.  
"I've answered your question, so now I would appreciate if you took your search for my niece off my porch."

"Oh fuck this," Damon sneered. His pupils dilated. "Tell me where Kir...Alice is. Now!"

Tom frowned. "You will go nowhere with that attitude, young man."

Damon narrowed his eyes, stating coldly: "You're wearing vervain."  
Of course Kirya would have hooked her so-called family up with the herb. Damon was just about to grab the man, and force the truth out of him. So what if Kirya got pissed? But just as the thought entered his brain, Tom took a step backwards, seeking security behind the doorstep.

"You're a vampire?" It was really more a statement than a question.

Damon threw him a fanged smile.  
"Indeed," he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"So why are you looking for my niece? You're obviously not a hunter out to get her for mingling with vamps. So what's your reason?"

So that was why he had lied.

Damon shrugged. "She's my lawyer. I need legal advice." The elder man let out a short barking laugh.

"So you go look for your lawyer, when the whole fucking town is under attack, and everyone knows the vampires are targeted? Sorry, but I don't believe you."

"Fine!" Damon rolled his eyes. "She happens to be a good friend as well."

The man and the vampire eyed each other silently for a long moment. Then Tom seemed to make up his mind.

"She called yesterday. She's alright, said she'd found a place to stay for the night up by Lincoln Wood."

Most of all Damon wanted to get to Lincoln Wood as fast as possible, but he felt intrigued by the man's sudden change of heart. "Why are you telling me this now?"

It was Toms turn to shrug. "She told me she was looking for a friend. Haven't heard her mention one of those before, so I kinda picked up on it." He smiled tiredly.

"Right," Damon let a hand run through his hair. "I'm going then." He turned around without another word. Was he, Damon, really the friend she was looking for? Or was it someone else? He didn't really know that much about who she normally spent time with, but at the fundraiser none of the people she had spoken with seemed to be more than acquaintances.

Before he sped off, he heard Tom yell after him.  
"Make sure she's safe."

He didn't answer. He had made that kind of promises before, and he was not about to do that ever again. Karma always seemed to be a bitch.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

It was a long walk to the navy pier, and Kirya felt even worse than she'd done the day before. Franklin was a chatty guy, and even though Kirya only managed to squeeze out a few one-syllable answers and affirming groans, he kept talking. She had questions of course, lots of them, but she simply didn't have air to voice them.

_Sometimes_, she thought, _it would be pretty handy to be a vampire._

It was around noon when they finally reached the pier. The sky was still grey, and the water of Lake Michigan was dark and still. Kirya felt a couple of heavy raindrops hit her face, and shuttered slightly.

Normally the place would be bustling with life, but now it was completely deserted. A ferris wheel loomed over the waterfront like a silent giant.

"This way," Franklin guided as he pointed to what used to be a fancy restaurant. Kirya just followed.

When they entered through the glass doors of the building they were met by tall black man. Kirya didn't doubt for a moment that he was a vampire.

"Took you long enough, Frank." Eying Kirya intensely he added with what could only be described as a hungry smile, "and you brought snacks!"

Instinctly Kirya took a step back, but she met the dark vampires eyes without wavering.  
"I'm sorry but you have to feed somewhere else. I'm busy."  
The vampire looked perplexed for a moment, obviously not used to his dinner talking back at him. Besides her, Franklin laughed.

"Chill Derek, she's off-limits."

Derek growled. "Then why the hell did you bring a fucking human here?"

Kirya spoke up. "I'm looking for Damon Salvatore. I'm his lawyer."

"Whatever." Derek grumbled. Franklin just shook his head and pushed past him, Kirya following in his wake. She could feel his hungry gaze following her down the hallway, sending shivers down her spine. Once again she wondered if she had lost her mind, willingly walking into the lion's den.

"Sorry about Derek. He's never been the polite type, and all this shit's kinda getting on everybody's nerves."

"No problem, I'm used to it." Kirya looked up at Franklin. "So, who would know if Damon is here?"

Franklin pondered on her question for a bit, while shuffling the unconscious hunter on his shoulder, untill he had a better grip on him.  
"Hmm, no one is really in charge here, and maybe it's not the best idea to go around asking everyone. As I said before people are on edge, and you do smell mouth-watering." He smiled apologetic at her. "Sorry but it's true." He stood for a moment, before lighting up in a smile. "I do know one though, who might be able to help you. Come on."

Kirya followed the vampire deeper inside the building. As they walked, Franklin kept up his small talk, and Kirya was just about to ask him to shut up when he announced that they had reached their destination.  
They had stopped outside a door, that she guessed led into an office of sorts. She couldn't help but feel the butterflies moving hopefully around in her stomach.  
She was about to open the door when Franklin stopped her.

"A small word of advice; keep your distance, he's normally pretty controlled, but blood has been scarce lately... and he can have quite a temper at times, so keep the sarcastic remarks at a minimum please."

Kirya huffed, pretending to be annoyed, but shot a devilish smirk at Franklin. "Don't worry, I'm used to this game." With that she opened the door, knowing she should probably have knocked.

Inside was a small office as she had expected, but the interior was obviously not in the same spots as the previous owners had preferred. In a corner laid a pile of papers, books, and other stuff in a jumbled mess, a few empty bloodbags topped the pile, so the new inhabitant obviously had had something to drink.  
The desk had been shoved up against a wall, and instead a large comfy looking couch occupied most of the room.  
A tall vampire with jet black hair, dressed in jeans and a crumbled black shirt stood with his back to them as they entered. He was pouring a golden liquid into a glass.

Recognition hit Kirya even before he turned around for her to see his handsome asian features. Before she knew what she was doing she marched up to him and slapped him hard in the face.  
Behind her Franklin, who had been too late to hold her back, held his breath. This really wasn't going well.

Yuki slowly lifted his hand to his cheek, where a red palm mark was clearly visible. His face was completely void of emotion.

"I've ripped people's head off for much less, little girl." He said coldly.

"Fuck you, Yuki," she yelled, anger boiling inside her. Yuki growled in response and his eyes turned completely black, as he started to vamp out.

As they stood there, merely a feet between each other, staring each other down, Kirya realized she couldn't really bring her self to hate him, much less fear him. They had too many good memories in common.

She sighed exasperated, and then surprised everyone in the room, including herself, by taking a step closer and wrapping her arms around him.  
"I missed you, dumbass," she mumbled into his chest.

Yuki stiffened for a moment, before letting out an inaudible sigh and returning her hug.  
"Right back at ya, crazy girl."

She didn't know why she forgave him so quickly, it was only a few days ago that he had attacked her in that alley, but somehow the memory felt like it was years old. Her newly obtained old memories on the other hand seemed much clearer in her mind.

Behind them Franklin coughed, drawing attention to his presence. "I guess you guys know each other," he stated hesitantly.

Kirya pulled back from the embrace, slightly flustered. It was Yuki who answered.  
"Yeah, you can say that." He smirked letting his arm linger around Kirya.

"Oh," Franklin mumbled, like he just realized something. "I'll be outside if you need me then."

Kirya looked between the two vampires and then to the arm around her. She quickly stepped away from Yuki shaking his arm off. "Yeah, we've been _friends_," she put extra pressure on the last word.

Yuki just laughed. "Whatever. By the way, that guy you're carrying around seems to be starting to wake up."

Franklin put the hunter down on the floor.  
"Not a friend at all. I got jumped by two hunters earlier. This is the one that survived. Alice proposed that we should take him here and get some answers out of him."

Yuki shot Kirya an impressed look. "Wow, you really are a mean little calculating thing."

Kirya just shrugged. "Whoever he works for blew up my home, and he and his partner tried killing me, so I guess I really don't give a shit."

On the floor the hunter groaned and started to move.  
Yuki walked over, and kneeled next to him. He looked up at Kirya. "You don't have to stay for this, love."

Kirya nodded, she was pretty sure she could handle whatever, but she really wouldn't enjoy to watch him and Franklin torture the hunter. She started to leave the room, when she suddenly stopped dead in her tracks and turned around. _How could I forget?_

Yuki looked up at her. "Yes?"

"Yuki, have you seen Damon?" She could feel the anxiety pumping through her veins as she waited for his answer.

"Yeah, I did, but can we talk about this later? We need to take care of this now." His voice had turned cold, but Kirya didn't care.

"Is he okay? Where is he?" she felt like she could dance with joy right now. Maybe he was here?

"Later, Kirya," Yuki snapped. Franklin shoot them a weird look when Yuki called her Kirya instead of Alice.

Kirya glared angry at Yuki, but decided against pissing him off. "You'd better hurry then," she bit back sharply before she left the room slamming the door behind her with a bit more force than necessary.


End file.
